


Fusion Charisma

by SteveDuck



Series: Travels with The Pilot [8]
Category: One Piece, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Assassins & Hitmen, Awkward Flirting, Confusion, Dimension Travel, Double Entendre, Fights, Friendship, Gen, Internal Conflict, Invasion, Major Original Character(s), Martial Arts, Misunderstandings, Multi, Mystery, Mystery Character(s), Negotiations, Partial Mind Control, Portals, Running Away, Running From Your Problems Always Works, Self-Discovery, Shapeshifting, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29331054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveDuck/pseuds/SteveDuck
Summary: Here we are in the future and it's... alright; some things left to fear, and foes left to fight. When Pilot is found sneaking back from another dimension in a white suit, it kicks of a series of events that lead to a new fusion running headlong into a less than stelar first day thanks to powers he cannot control.All this distracts them from the open portal they left behind. An open portal is a dangerous thing, who knows what can stalk its way through?
Relationships: Buck Dewey/Jenny Pizza/Sour Cream, Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Series: Travels with The Pilot [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1368157
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	1. A Kelmep in a White Suit

**Author's Note:**

> OVERALL STORY WARNINGS: In terms of warnings, this story can be split into two parts. In chapters 2 through to 8 expect crude humour and suggestive situations. Nothing to graphic, mostly double entendre and misunderstandings. in chapters 9 to 16, expect violence typical of One Piece. For those that don't know what that entails, expect blood, serious injuries and villains attacking with intent to kill. Specific warnings will be added to individual chapters.

“Welcome back Yellowtail!” Rainbow Quartz 2.0 waved happily from the wooden pier as the man weighed anchor and tied up his boat.

His ship secure, Yellowtail turned and waved back. “Muh muh! Muh muh muh?”

“He’s right here.” The fusion beamed, stepping aside to reveal Onion.

The boy ran over to his father for a hug.

The fisherman looked up from his son with a smile. “Muh muh muh muh?”

“Oh, we did all sorts of things!” Rainbow Quartz recounted. “Onion had the lovely idea of building a clubhouse for him and his friends from some old pink planks we found on our walk in the woods. Don’t worry, I checked the structure’s stability at every step of the possess. I suggest you take a look at the finished work at some point, it is really a marvellous thing.”

“Muh muh!” The human agreed. He took out his wallet and began to open it.

“Oh no!” The fusion insisted. “I couldn’t possibly charge you for keeping an eye on your lad! He and Steven are friends. He’s even started to pay visits on Connie!”

Yellowtail put his wallet away with an appreciative nod. He took Onion by the hand and gave the boy’s friend a final wave. “Muh muh!”

Onion gave one last wave followed by a very earnest thumbs up before his father began to walk him home.

“Goodbye.” Rainbow Quartz waved cheerily. As the father and son left the dock, Rainbow Quartz sat on the pier’s edge. “He visited her?” He questioned himself. “He broke into her room at midnight! What on earth was that about?” Rainbow Quartz gave a sigh. “I guess it wasn’t that bad.” He assured himself. “Connie isn’t upset, and he didn’t take anything. It’s weird though, even for Onion. I should have questioned him more.”

Before the fusion could consider farther, a blue rimmed portal opened right beside him. The salty scent that wafted through merged perfectly with the sea air of the pier, soured only slightly by the smell of unclean mops. The portals other side seemed to be situated in a wooden cleaner’s closet, the door to which was open just a crack, allowing the light of the other world’s sun to trickle through.

Through the portal stepped Pilot wearing a suit Rainbow Quartz’s constituent parts had only seen him in once before. The formal shoes, suit, longcoat, and fedora were entirely white, starkly contrasting the black bruise on his cheek, beneath a pair of white rimmed sunglasses. He seemed to be in a sulk until the sight of Rainbow quartz startled him.

Before Pilot could get a word out, Rainbow Quartz was upon him, half picking the kelmep up as his four eyes filled with worry. “Pilot my boy! What happened? Who did this to you?”

“I- I’m fine!” Pilot grinned, happy to see them.

“Then what’s this?” Rainbow Quartz accused, pointing at the blemish.

“I just got-” Pilot paused. “Actually, what do you think happened?” He smiled.

“What?”

“I’m meant to be training Steven this afternoon. I’ve taught him how to identify injuries.” He explained.

“Yes, you have.” The fusion admitted. “But you want me to do this now?”

“As opposed to when I have no injuries to identify?” Pilot questioned.

“Touché.” He took a closer look at Pilot’s cheek. “Well, it’s blunt force, and its fresh, you were hit no more than five minutes ago.”

“Very good.” Pilot smiled. “Anything else?”

“Well, there’s a curve here, and an angular lesion. It looks like the heel of a shoe. Were you kicked?”

“Yep!” Pilot grinned. “I’m so proud of you. How perceptive you are!”

“You shouldn’t hurt yourself like this.” Rainbow Quartz continued to stare at the injury, frowning. “It doesn’t even look like you tried dodge it. Why did you just take this?”

Pilot tried to dodge the question. “I’m a little troublemaker, aren’t I?”

“Can I see your shoes Pilot?” The fusion asked.

“Sure?” Pilot lifted his foot. “I didn’t kick myself Rainbow.”

“I know but… the man that kicked you wore the same type!”

For a few moments, Pilot was speechless. “You are… very perceptive.”

“What happened? Since these aren’t your clothes it not a huge assumption to deduce your assailant was dressed similarly. Who are they? Why did they kick you?”

“Coincidence.” Pilot muttered unconvincingly.

Rainbow Quartz held Pilot’s face. “Tell me,” he entreated, “or I won’t let you pick how I heal you.”

“You’re bluffing!” Pilot declared. “You would never leave me injured!”

“Of course not.” Rainbow Quartz agreed with a menacing smile. “But if you won’t talk, I’ll decide how I’ll do it.”

“Wha?”

Rainbow Quartz blew a kiss.

Pilot struggled violently. “Ew! By Chorus ew!”

“Here it comes!” The fusion teased, making no actual move to kiss his friend against his will.

“You’ll never take me alive you bastard!”

“Get ready!”

“Ew! Fine, I’ll talk!”

Rainbow Quartz let him go and sat beside him on the pier. Neither noticed the white Pidgeon, dressed in miniature white top hat and longcoat, fly out of the portal behind them.

“I got kicked in the face by a member of Cipher Pol.” Pilot admitted.

“Who?” Rainbow Quartz questioned, applying some of his saliva to Pilot’s cheek via a handkerchief.

“They’re an intelligence agency.” Pilot explained as his bruise vanished. As usual, his old scaring was unaffected by the magical spit.

“Like secret agents?”

Pilot nodded. “Spies, assassins, and bodyguards for the worst sorts of people.”

“And you’re wearing their uniform?” The fusion surmised.

Pilot nodded.

“You’ve worn it before.” He recalled. “Near Steven’s birthday.”

“I’ve been pretending to be on their side to learn their martial arts.” Pilot grinned proudly.

“You’ve been doing what!?” Rainbow exclaimed.

“The paycheques don’t hurt either.”

“Pilot, that’s fraud!”

Pilot looked up at the fusion. “I cannot overstate how bad the people I’m pretending to work for are. The Celestial Dragons are heartless sociopathic slavers. They deserve a lot worse than to be robbed of a few million berries.”

“A-Alright.” The fusion nodded. “Why did Cipher Pol turn on you? Did they find you out?”

“Not yet. But I’m sure they’ll have their suspicions when I don’t come back.”

“You’re not going back?” He confirmed, slightly relieved.

“Nope.” The kelmep removed his longcoat, casting it aside. “I am Cipher Pol no more. It figures you’d catch me on my last day. I left my employers a parting gift.”

“A parting gift?” The fusion echoed suspiciously.

“I broke their legs and freed their slaves.” Pilot stated.

“Oh,” Rainbow Quartz replied, “fair enough.”

“Yeah, I’ve learnt enough to progress without their help. No more Cipher Pol ‘discipline’ for me.”

“Discipline?”

Pilot tapped his previously injured cheek.

“Oh Pilot, I’m so sorry!” The fusion gasped.

“Not your fault.” He chuckled. “Apparently I’m a ‘smartass’.”

Seeing Pilot smile made Rainbow Quartz smile. They elbowed him in the ribs. “Well, while I don’t agree with their response, I can’t say they were wrong!”

Pilot leant away. “Them’s fighting words buddy!” He hopped off the pier, standing on the water’s surface. “Put ‘em up!” He grinned.

“Fisticuffs?” Rainbow Quartz questioned wryly, standing. “And risk damaging these fine vessels? Are you mad?”

“Eh, little bit.” Pilot shrugged. “ ** _Shave!_** ” In an instant, Pilot vanished, only to reappear again a little way out to sea. “How about here!?” He called.

“Okay then.” In a single graceful bound, Rainbow Quartz leapt to stand one legged upon a lonely, unmanned mooring post. “But unlike you, I can’t walk on water. I barely have a,” he sniggered at his own imminent wordplay, “leg to stand on.”

“That sounds like a you problem!” Pilot teased. He drew his leg back before sweeping it forwards. “ ** _Tempest Kick!_** ” Traced by his foot, a blade of air careened towards his opponent, kicking up sea foam as it went.

The blade collapsed against Rainbow Quartz’s open parasol, its canopy see-through and visibly scratched by the attack due to Steven’s recent trouble summoning his shield. The fusion rested the parasol on his shoulder, fixing the damage with a charming spin. “Well, I’m a sitting duck standing here.” He glanced down to his one weightbearing leg. “Or a standing flamingo from the looks.” With a laugh he closed his umbrella. He hopped upon it and flew towards Pilot, deftly dodging flashbangs and tempest kicks.

Pilot ducked under the parasol as Rainbow Quartz swerved to strike him with it. He raised a hand and caught it as his opponent passed. Pilot swung himself onto the parasol. “Room for a small one?” He asked with a punch.

“Not when they’re as rowdy as you!” Rainbow Quartz kicked him back, launching himself off the parasol and catching its handle. The parasol opened suddenly, sending Pilot flying backwards with a pulse of white light. In one fluid motion, Rainbow Quartz closed and remounted his parasol, spiralling upwards to gain a vantage point on Pilot as he landed. As Pilot looked up at him, a barrage of multi-coloured light fired from his parasol’s tip.

Pilot charged back in, warping between lasers. “ ** _Shave!_** ” Pilot was directly beneath them. “ ** _Moonwalk!_** ” Pilot took his two steps skyward before casting out his ribbon. It looped around Rainbow Quartz’s parasol as the fusion was struggling to keep track of the kelmep. Pilot swung around the parasol as he honed in. “Hello!” he kicked his opponent square in the chest, knocking them off their vehicle.

Rainbow Quartz produced a new parasol to slow their fall and looked up through it. They tensed as they saw their opponent.

Pilot span in the air, summersaulting as he began to glow blue. “ ** _Warp Bomber!_** ” His body shot downwards like a bullet.

Rainbow Quartz slipped out of the way just in time.

As Pilot landed on the water’s surface, it bounced and reverberated like a sheet of rubber, a circular wave expanded outwards with force enough to make the distant boats bob violently as it passed. Pilot stood up with fists raised.

Rainbow Quartz closed his parasol and fell after his foe. “Here it comes Pilot!” he raised his weapon and swung downwards.

Pilot looked up with a raised brow. “You’re holding back again.” He blocked the parasol with a single arm, blackened by armament haki. “I know you can swing harder than this and you know how tough I am.”

Rainbow Quartz nodded uncomfortably before opening his parasol and standing in it, using it as a boat. “It’s just that you seem so small from up here.” They stood to their full height for emphasis.

“Is it?”

“Yes.”

“Then maybe some swapping is in order, just until Steven regains his confidence. What do you say to Warp Pearl vs Steven?”

“Righty o’.”

“Chorus you’re so fucking British.” Pilot muttered under his breath. “And that’s coming from me.”

Rainbow Quartz glanced down at the water. “We should get back to shore first, Steven and Pearl don’t want to get their feet wet.”

“There isn’t a way to just, I don’t know, ‘transfer’ Pearl to me? Warp Pearl can catch Steven.”

“I suppose that’s possible.” The fusion considered. “Let’s have a go!” He helped Pilot into their Parasol and the pair danced. “What sort of dance is this?” He questioned.

“Lindsey hop.” With that there was a flash of light and an unravelling of fibrous white veins forceful enough to throw Pilot’s fedora to the wind.


	2. Birth of a Fusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fusion mishap causes Pilot to fuse with the wrong partner. Every cloud has a silver lining though, and now a new fusion gets to enter the world. Backed by the power of a diamond, who knows what power Warp Steven can unleash, or if he can control it? Unfortunately, it seems the cool kids are quite accidently about to become his first test subjects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this Chapter: Crude humour, Inuendo, Suggestive situations, Light mind control

Pearl opened her eyes, She wasn’t a fusion. She was still dry however. “Pilot! How could you drop Steven in the- Steven?”

The being she looked up at resembled Steven greatly, same round face and rosy complexion. As she studied his confused face in more detail, she saw he had some grey tones around the underside of his stronger jawline and his pointed ears, tipped with whiskers. His hair was Steven’s rich brown, but it had none of his curls, instead it cascaded down a little way past his broad shoulders like a chocolate waterfall. He wore a formal suit jacket coloured a pale pink, open to show Steven’s black t-shirt, its yellow star crossed by Pilots wavy line. He held her out of the water in a bridal carry.

“Warp Steven?” Pearl hazarded.

The fusion blinked at the name before their eyes widened with realisation. “My hat!” They looked up and around for it before having another realisation. “My shoes!” looking down they saw Steven’s rubber sandals start to float away while Pilot’s leather shoes sunk out of reach.

“I’ve got them!” Pearl drew her spear and deftly scooped Steven’s footwear out of the water. “I could dive after Pilot’s if you dropped me.”

The fusion shook his head. “Don’t bother, he won’t need them again. Let’s get you to shore.”

“Alright.”

It wasn’t until the fusion got to the beach, put Pearl down, and rested his grey knuckled hands on his hips that realisation dawned on him. “Steven and Pilot fused! I’m Warp Steven! Holy fu-funyuns!”

“Do you feel alright?” Pearl asked.

“I feel… great!” He beamed. “I’ve got the power a diamond and the confidence to use it right! How do I look?” He rolled back a sleeve and flexed a bicep at Pearl.

Pearl’s eyes were not drawn to Warp Steven’s muscles, instead observing his face. “You look lovely.” She assured him. “You have the same whiskers as Warp Amethyst, that means you’re biologically male, correct?”

“You wanna make sure?” As the purr escaped, Warp Steven turned his back on the gem in silent shock at what he had unconsciously stated.

Thankfully, Pearl did not pick up on the implications. “If you insist.” She grabbed the hairs and pulled.

“Ow! They’re real! They’re real!” Warp Steven shouted. As Pearl let go, he took out Steven’s phone. “So, what do I actually look like?” He opened the phone’s front camera. He touched his cheek and his voice trembled. “I, I’m beautiful!” Pilot’s scar was gone, unlike every other one of the kelmep’s fusions, Warp Steven’s cheeks were bare, bar a slight greying on his sturdy cheekbones. “How can I possibly be so…” His face hardened with Steven’s stubborn suborn refusal to let his friend’s self-loathing slide. “Pilot is beautiful. But still… I am so forking hot! I could pull any-” His hand covered his rebellious lips as they attempted another unbidden statement.

“Warp Steven?” Pearl questioned. “What’s wrong?”

The fusion turned back to her. “N-Nothing. But what do you think I can do in a fight? What do you say Pearl?” He raised his fists. “You and me?”

Pearl took a step back, dismissing her spear and catching Steven’s sandals. “I feel you’d have an unfair advantage against me.”

“Don’t worry,” Warp Steven grinned suggestively, “I’ll be gentle.” Their face fell as they recognised their mouth had garbled their words for a third time.

Again, Pearl’s lack of knowledge on pickup lines spared Warp Steven further embarrassment. “Even still, we should test your abilities on holopearls in the sky arena before you fight other gems. Do you want to go now? It is Steven’s training day after all.”

“I’ll catch up with you.” Warp Steven replied. “I wanna take a walk by myself first, figure myself out up here.” He tapped his head. “See you in half an hour?”

“Alright.” Pearl agreed. “I’ll see you at the arena.”

Warp Steven waited to see which way Pearl left by before turning and heading into town in the other direction. The fall was well under way, so Warp Steven was not surprised at how quiet the town was, devoid of its tourists. He was also not surprised to see a familiar band of young adults taking advantage of the end of tourist season sales, making the most of their time together before their individual lives put distance between them.

“Hey guys!” Warp Steven called. The cool kids now knew and accepted Stevonnie’s fusion identity, they also knew Pilot, Warp Steven was confident explaining himself would be a cinch.

Sour Cream, Buck, and Jenny all turned to his voice. Their jaws dropped slightly at the sight of him. One at a time they regained their bearing. “Hello.” Buck smiled.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” Jenny added, beginning to walk her group to meet the fusion.

“Poor you.” Warp Steven found himself joking with a broad smile. He decided against his honest approach when he heard quite how funny the three humans seemed to find his substandard jest. The three friends gave each other looks that seemed to form a silent agreement on something. Something was wrong, Warp Steven could feel it. “I’m Max, Max Ultiverse. I’m visiting from Empire City.”

“No way!” Sour Cream exclaimed. “I’m heading up there to DJ in a few weeks! Maybe we’ll meet up.” There was a definite invitation in his voice.

“Maybe.” Warp Steven agreed noncommittally.

“I could get you VIP access.” The blonde man offered.

“You want me backstage?” Warp Steven realised his hurricane of double entendre had not passed. He knew he had definitely wrecked his introduction to Beach City’s human residents.

Sour Cream’s smile didn’t dither as he blushed. “Well, I…”

“Why don’t we hang out?” Jenny interrupted. “We can get to know each other.”

“Sure!” Warp Steven nodded, happy for a distraction.

The trio surrounded the fusion and began to walk him along. “You here long?” Asked Buck.

“I just arrived.” Warp Steven explained. “How long do you want me for?” He added unwittingly.

“As long as possible.” Buck replied.

“We’d have to find a hotel. I mean I’d have to find one!”

“You could stay at one of our places.” Sour Cream suggested.

Buck briefly winced at the thought of the embarrassment his father would put him through before allowing such an arrangement.

“You just met me. You really trust me in your beds? Homes!”

“Well my dad might be a stick in the mud,” Kiki considered, “but I could just sneak you in!”

Sour Cream noticed the disturbed look on the fusion’s face and made an alternate suggestion. “My mom will be cool with you staying.”

“Cool…” Warp Steven stated.

Jenny gave Sour Cream a playful knock to the arm. “Dude! You get to hang out with him in Empire City!”

Warp Steven felt uncomfortable. “Erm…”

The woman turned to him attentively. “OMG Max! I just realised we haven’t even told you our names! Sorry! This is Buck!”

The shade wearing man waved with unusual bashfulness. “Hey!”

“This is Sour Cream!”

“Sup!”

“And I’m Jenny, Jenny Pizza! My dad owns the local pizza place. Do you like pizza?”

“Yeah!” Warp Steven replied, exhilarated for something to break the strange tension that he had felt forming. “What’s better than opening a pizza’s box?”

There was a few seconds of stunned silence from the others. Jenny broke the silence as she broke into flustered laughter. “Max! Oh my goodness! You’re so bad!” She held one of his biceps.

The boys quickly joined her laughter. Warp Steven laughed nervously as he tried to figure out what was so funny.

“Are you single Max?” Sour Cream asked, looping his arm around the fusion’s free elbow.

“Single?” He questioned.

“Like, do you have a girlfriend?” Jenny questioned.

“Or boyfriend?” Buck suggested.

“Or partner?” Sour Cream added.

“I have a girlfriend,” Warp Steven replied, he raised an eyebrow and backtracked, “kind of.” The question of fusion and relationships had never occurred to Pilot or Steven, but now it had been pushed into the forefront of their fusion’s mind. What was Warp Steven’s relationship to Connie? He definitely felt Steven’s love for the swordswoman, but it was tempered by Pilot’s lack of romantic attraction and sense of duty to his student and friend. The question could wait however, Jenny and Sour Cream’s grips had relaxed on his admission and he felt a strong need to get away. “Also there’s another lady I’m meant to be meeting up with in a few minutes.”

“Do they know about each other?” Buck questioned.

“Yes?” Of course, Connie and Pearl were aware of one another.

The arms holding him tightened again. “You’re poly too?” Jenny beamed.

“Poly like a parrot!” It had meant to come out as a question, but Warp Steven’s tone made it sound more of a humorous conformation. He leafed through his twin memory stores for what poly meant in this context.

“Man,” Sour Cream shook his head with a smile to match Jenny’s, “we’ve been trying to bring that up all this time!”

“Fancy meeting another throuple in Beach City.” Buck mused.

“Wait… you guys are dating!?” Warp Steven exclaimed. This was news to him and his parts, though to be fair Pilot barely registered romantic relationships and Steven had been rather inwardly minded for the past few months until recently. He realised how his shock could be perceived as disapproval. “That’s great!”

“Glad to hear.” Jenny flirted. “Maybe us and your girlfriends could meet up see if we all get along?”

“Like go shopping together?” The fusion questioned, having neglected to notice the plurality of girlfriends in his confusion.

“Sure!” Buck smiled.

“Or any other dates you want.” Sour Cream suggested.

A late realisation dawned on the fusion. “Dates? You guys want to date me?”

“Yes!” The trio replied with eerie simultaneity.

Warp Steven wrenched himself out of the arms holding him. “I can’t!”

The gleeful faces were immediately heartbroken.

He slowly backed away. “It’s not you, it’s me. My real name’s Warp Steven, I’m a fusion of Steven and Pilot.”

The young adults followed him. “W-We can make it work!” Jenny offered.

“What? I just told you I’m an asexual and a committed man in a trench coat! How can you,” He paused as he raised his hands to his face, a pink light from his eyes illuminated his fingers, the light brimmed with manipulative conceptual power. “Oh shirt, I’m doing this to you.” He turned and ran.

“Can’t we clean your house or something for you!?” Sour Cream begged as he and his partners gave chase.

“Not interested in slave labour!” Warp Steven shouted back. His warp speed meant that he quickly gained a lead. Several seconds ahead, he looked back.

They were still chasing him.

“I gotta find somewhere to hide.” As he spoke, a pink rimmed portal appeared beside Warp Steven. Through it, he saw a familiar and comforting street. “Connie’s house?” He gave one last look back at his pursuers as he dashed through, closing the portal behind him.


	3. Human Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warp Steven needs to get away from his admirers, but more so he needs support from somebody he trusts. If he can keep his powers under control for five damn seconds, he might get some.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this Chapter: Crude humour, Inuendo, Suggestive situations, Light mind control

Warp Steven fell through the closing portal and stumbled. He had had his suspicions as the portal had opened, now he was through, he was sure. As a conduit of the warp, Pilot was sensitive to the unique frequency of each universe he entered. As Pilot’s fusion, Warp Steven knew he was in a new place, but the same reality.

But of course he was, he had seen the back of Connie’s house. He looked around to find it again. He realised he had stopped falling. He traced his movements from tripping on the now gone portal’s rim. As the fusion had fallen, he had reached out to stop his fall. What he had caught had fallen with him however, grabbing him back. His feet had shifted to stabilise him with a slight lean. He caught that which he had pulled down with him, it leant back in his arms. Warp Steven checked what he was holding.

“I, Uh…” Kevin tried to laugh cockily but his words were lost in his captor’s eyes.

“Kevin?!” The fusion dropped him on reflex. “Oh frack!” He caught Kevin by the collar before the man could hit the ground and pulled him up to his feet, bringing their faces uncomfortably close together before the fusion took a step back. “Couldn’t let you fall for me- fall because of me! Ducks sake!”

Kevin seemed to regain his footing on hearing Warp Steven’s words. “You think you’re so hot?”

Momentary relief swept over Warp Steven. Perhaps his powers were under control, or for some reason the cool kids were unusually susceptible to some minor effect he produced.

His hopes were dashed as Kevin’s posture became that of the self-aggrandising Casanova wannabe. “It’s lucky for you your feelings are mutual.” He tried to take Warp Steven’s unmoving hands. “Name’s Kevin. I’m sure you won’t forget it.”

“No matter how hard I try.” Warp Steven muttered.

“And what do I have the pleasure of calling you?” Kevin purred. Finding no luck getting the handsome man to lock fingers with him, he traced a finger up his chest, trying to cradle the man’s chin.

“Max.” Warp Steven non-violently but forcefully swatted Kevin’s hand away. He wasn’t about to give Kevin his real name to track him with.

“Feisty!” Kevin chuckled. “Damn near took my arm off!”

As usual, Kevin was the idiot savant of accidentally setting off Steven’s insecurities. “I did?” The fusion reached a worried hand for Kevin’s.

“Yeah.” Kevin smirked jokingly. His hand met Warp Steven’s briefly before tracing the muscles and veins up the arm. “You have a sexy pulse. I like it.”

“Of course you do.” Warp Steven sighed, realising Kevin was unharmed, perhaps baring a stinging wrist.

“Do you work out?” He asked.

Warp Steven tuned out as he looked for a way to get out of the situation. He wanted to get into Connie’s house, but he didn’t want this creep following him. There was no one else around, he jokingly thought about punching Kevin out and making a run for it. No, as much as he disliked the man, he didn’t want Kevin dead. No, he had meant to knock him out, it had been a joke anyway. He was too powerful; he couldn’t trust himself to hold back enough. But he could. Yet he couldn’t.

Unaware of the internal dispute before him, Kevin blathered on. “We should work out together. We could cruise for a bit on the way to the gym. Do you have a car? I bet you have an awesome car! I used to have one but this stupid kid had a spaceship land on his house and wreck it. All sorts of dumb shit like that happens around here because of him. He even turned into a crying dinosaur once. What sort of dinosaur cries?”

Warp Steven swallowed his guilt and rage at Kevin’s flippant summary of Steven’s lowest point. Trying to impress Kevin was the opposite of what he was trying to do. He re-entered the internal discussion, more easily swaying himself to violence before realising his emotions were getting tied up in his decision. Suddenly he felt something. “I’m ready.” He said out loud.

Kevin faltered at the words. “Y-You are? I-I mean, you are! Of course! S-So am I! I just didn’t want to r-rush.”

Kevin’s barely hidden nerves took Warp Steven out of his considering as he traced through the topics Kevin had broached for the source of the sudden fear he showed. Leaving off from his insult to Steven’s whole life, Kevin had offered a date, a movie, one of several parties he could apparently get the fusion into. Kevin had followed with a tasteless joke that Warp Steven probably wanted to skip all that and get him into bed. A joke Warp Steven had interrupted at exactly the wrong time with his statement. That was most certainly not what he had intended to pronounce readiness for. “No, I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine!” Kevin insisted, frightened that his hesitance was what repelled the fusion. “D-Do you want to come back to my place, o-or…”

“Kevin I don’t want to sleep with you!”

Kevin bit his lip for a second before standing to his full height. “Let’s not kid each other babe. We want this! The lies just get in the way of this!” He gestured down his body before lowering his voice to his attempt at a seductive whisper. “Come get me daddy!”

Warp Steven recoiled. “Please don’t call me that.”

“What’s wrong?”

“A lot.”

“We’re both adults here.”

“Are you?”

“I’m twenty two!” Kevin answered hotly.

“Emotionally, Kevin. Chorus most sonorous!” Warp Steven took a step backwards.

“I-I’m ready!”

“No, you aren’t. Get your life together.” Behind his back, Warp Steven unfurled his finger. The readiness that had surprised the fusion was his readiness to open another portal. Despite his steadily increasing power, Pilot still found it difficult to open two portals in a day. Despite it having only been a few minutes since his last one, a pink rimmed portal yawned behind Warp Steven. The fusion gave his pesterer a shove and stepped through the portal. “Later Kevin!” The portal closed.

Warp Steven looked around. The room was humid, with small windows of frosted glass and somewhat clinical aesthetic with tiles on the floor and going halfway up the walls. He could see the room was equipped with a sink and toilet. He heard running water behind him.

“This is Connie’s bathroom.” Warp Steven recognised quietly. Concern rolled up his back before he relaxed with a self-chastising chuckle. “What? Steven can’t use his girlfriend’s bathroom? Get your mind out of the gutter.”

His train of thought was cut off by a scream from behind them, from the same direction as the water, where his memories told him a shower was installed. “Who the heck are you!” Screamed Priyanka.

Warp Steven was very glad he hadn’t turned around. “Holy shirt. It’s not what it looks like!” he whipped out Pilot’s black towel and held it out behind him. “Here!”

A shampoo bottle hit the back of his head as Priyanka kept screaming.

“Ow! Who takes a shower at two o’clock in the afternoon!?”

“I just got back from Pilates and the showers at the gym weren’t working!” The woman shouted back, grabbing the conditioner. “I don’t know who you are, but if you try anything, my daughter will make you regret it!”

On cue, there was a pounding at the bathroom door. “Mom!? What’s going on!?” Called Connie

“Connie?” Warp Steven turned to the voice, remembering just in time to raise his hand and block his view of Priyanka.

“A creep has broken into the bathroom!” Priyanka screamed, throwing the conditioner.

“Onion!?” Connie questioned.

“I’m not a creep!” Warp Steven ducked the bottle and dashed for the door. He opened it and screeched to a halt as he met Connie’s sabre. “It’s not what it looks like!”

The young warrior’s cold gaze pierced him. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing with my mother but-”

“Connie! It’s me! It’s me!” Warp Steven lifted his shirt to show the gem underneath.

Connie dismissed the blade. “Steven?”

Warp Steven relaxed until Connie yanked him out of the bathroom by the shirt. “Woah!”

“The heck were you doing in there with my mom!?”

Minutes later, Warp Steven was sitting on the sofa of the Maheswaran’s living room, looking up sheepishly at Connie and her mother, who had hurriedly made herself presentable as her daughter had dragged the fusion downstairs. Neither woman looked best pleased with the accidental interloper. “So this is how I die.” He thought. “First day in existence and my future mother in law is going to beat me to death.”

Seemingly in response to his thoughts Priyanka narrowed her eyes at him. “So you’re telling me that you’ve been teleporting around with portals and just so happened to appear in our bathroom while I was using it?” She summarized the rundown Warp Steven had just them of his day, rushed and lacking in key points, such as his being a fusion, as it was.

“I was aiming to get into your house. If I had known that could happen, I would have specified your bedroom!”

Priyanka’s glare was interrupted by a concerned cock of her brow.

“I mean Connie’s bedroom!”

Priyanka’s look was replaced by one of pure rage. “You what!?”

Registering how the interrogation was heading off the rails, Connie lost much of her anger as she tried to calm her mother. “He didn’t mean it like that! He didn’t know I was getting changed!”

“You were getting changed!?” Warp Steven exclaimed. “Oh crêpe! I really didn’t mean that Dr. Maheswaran! I would never watch your daughter getting changed!” He was finally gaining control of his words, able to bite back the words “without her permission” that tried to barge their way onto the end of his sentence.

Priyanka took a very deep breath as she wrestled off the urge to hit the man before her. Steven was a child after all, as tall and rugged as he looked currently. “Steven, this has to be the oddest motherly advice I have ever given, but if you are teleporting to somebody’s home, you should still make your destination outside their house so they can let you in.”

Warp Steven bowed his head. “Yes Dr. Maheswaran, sorry Dr. Maheswaran.”

With a final sigh, Priyanka left the room for a very strong coffee.

As her mother let them be, Connie tried to defuse the tension. “So… you wanna watch the new season of Under the Knife?”

Warp Steven smiled. “How is it?”

“Eh.” Connie shrugged.

As Connie had suggested, the medical drama was so-so. Still the pair watched, sitting on Connie’s bed, the rehash of the old combustible gallbladder plot playing on Connie’s laptop.

Warp Steven’s sharp senses told him that Priyanka hadn’t gone far. She was remarkably stealthy for a supposedly normal human, quiet enough to keep tabs on her hypervigilant daughter when she was with her boyfriend. Warp Steven could only detect her with Pilot’s fully realised observation haki. He did his best to ignore her, mothers would be mothers after all.

Unimpressed by the show, Connie turned her attention to the man beside him. “You look different.” She appreciated the handsomeness of the new form, but Steven had shapeshifted for her in the past, often to mask his own insecurity. If it hadn’t been for that and the chaotic entrance, Connie may well have given in to the man’s seductive aura, he was her boyfriend after all.

“Oh, yeah,” Warp Steven agreed, “what do you think?”

“Reminds me of your fourteenth birthday.” She noted, allowing a small amount of criticism into her voice.

He caught what she was getting at. “This isn’t forever.” He assured her.

Connie leant back on her palms as she relaxed. “Just having some fun then?”

Warp Steven looked down at his… Girlfriend? Friend? Regardless, she made him smile. “I am now.”

She leaned in close to him. “Good.” She brought her face up to his, raising herself off the bed a bit when he didn’t come down to meet her.

With a yelp, the fusion leapt backwards. The arguments on his relationship to Connie resolved by both his halves’ displeasure at the thought of him kissing her. “I’m sorry Connie!”

“What!? Wait!”

But before the young woman could stop him, Warp Steven had leapt from her window and began to book it down the street.

“Steven!?” Connie leant out of the window, distressed and confused. She began to step back from the windowsill when she spotted the black towel the fleeing man had left on her bed, the one he had offered to protect her mother’s modesty. “Pilot?”

At that moment Priyanka burst in. “I heard shouting! What’s going on? Where’s Steven?”

Connie held up the towel. “I don’t think that was Steven.” She shook her head as hindsight acquainted her with the grey jawline and knuckles, the pointed ears, and the prominent wavy line across the man’s shirt, all signs she would have noticed with ease had she not been so taken by the fusion’s beauty. “I think Steven has fused with Pilot.”

“Well, where is he?” Her mother questioned.

“I… I tried to kiss him.” Connie waited a moment to see how her mother would react.

“What happened then?” The doctor responded, as helpfully as possible in the confusing situation.

“He freaked out and jumped out the window.”

Priyanka swiftly stepped to the window and looked around.

Connie pointed down the road. “He went that way. We have to go after him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“N-Now Connie, Pilot is nineteen now, and Steven is very mature for his age. I’m sure the pair of them are sensible enough to…” She felt her argument crumble in her mind. “You start making phone calls and I’ll start the car.”


	4. Diamond Approval

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realising his power makes him a threat to potentially every human he meets, Warp Steven flees to Homeworld until he learns to control himself. Why is Warp Steven so sure he is safe among gems though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this Chapter: Crude humour, Inuendo, Suggestive situations, Light mind control

As Warp Steven ran down the street, his teeth grit in frustration. “Well that settles it!” He swiftly wiped tears from his eyes. “Until I can get my powers under control, I’m a danger to humanity!” He shook his head. “I should unfuse. No! This isn’t my fault! I just need to gain control!” He made himself chuckle. “I’m sure Alexandrite broke some stuff when she was learning how to handle herself. I just need a place away from humans to calm down and get a hold of myself.” He opened a portal and passed through.

As he closed the portal behind him, Warp Steven found himself face to face with a great blue pillar, he was surprised his didn’t slam face first into it, given Pilot’s luck with instantaneous transportation. “This is Homeworld construction.” He murmured to himself. He turned in the direction of the now gone portal, he was met by more blue architecture of a similar style, a gentle sloshing of water echoed from behind him. Warp Steven rested his back on the pillar. “I’m on Homeworld.” He noted quietly. “I guess you can’t get much further from humanity than Blue Diamond’s bathroom.” The fusion’s face fell with realisation. “I’m in another flipping bathroom!”

From the other side of the pillar they heard the voice of Blue Diamond. “Did you hear something Yellow?” She sounded embarrassed.

“You’re acting paranoid Blue” Her fellow Diamond replied. “If you are so concerned about other gems seeing you, then maybe you shouldn’t be altering your form like this.” Though she was trying her best to be supportive, it was clear in her voice that Yellow did not favour whatever changes Blue had wrought upon herself.

“Gems may find them odd,” Blue admitted, “but they are the height of human fashion. If we’re going to be allied to Earth, at least one of our forms should appeal to humans.”

“Any particular human?” Yellow asked knowingly.

Warp Steven went to peek around the pillar but hesitated. Given his recent experiences, spying on two people in the bath was ill advised. Then again, the bath’s occupants were gems, sexless beings without genitalia or other areas of concern. Thusly assured, Warp Steven allowed himself to spy.

Both diamonds were soaking in Blue Diamond’s giant bath, fully clothed as was gem custom. Blue Diamond had her back to Warp Steven while Yellow faced in his direction, her attention fully occupied by her conversational partner. “I can understand your requests for temporary shrinking to visit Mighty Spark, but all this aesthetic alteration to impress him is unbecoming.”

“I’m not trying to impress him!” Blue huffed. “I’m just trying to be relatable.” She adjusted something on her chest and leant forwards. “Do you think these are correct?”

Though he couldn’t see her front, Warp Steven shook his head in disbelief. “She didn’t...”

Yellow glanced down uncomfortably at what Blue gestured towards. “How would I know? They obscure your gem though.”

“She flapping did!” Warp Steven mentally exclaimed.

“I-I’m sure Mr. Spark won’t mind that.” Blue said defensively. “Pink’s form had these and she was very popular with humans.”

“And now she’s gone Blue!” Yellow Diamond barked back.

Warp Steven couldn’t listen any longer. He stepped out from behind his pillar. “It was more complicated than that Yellow!”

Blue gasped with embarrassment, blue light shone from her chest before she turned around. “Steven!? H-How much did you hear?”

“A lot.” Quietly grateful Blue had returned her torso back to normal before facing him, Warp Steven ran over and jumped up to the side of the giant bath. “Did Mighty Spark tell you to give yourself tater tots?”

“Tater tots?” Blue Diamond questioned.

The fusion pointed to either side of her square gem to overcome his self-censorship.

“I, n-no. I just saw some images in these slim books in his house.”

Warp Steven’s brow fell. “Was there a picture of a rabbit on these slim books?”

“I believe so. Have you read it?”

“I’m aware of the publisher’s work.” Warp Steven muttered. “But Blue, Mighty Spark doesn’t need you to change how you look for him. He likes you.”

“I-I see.” Blue Diamond looked down embarrassedly.

“You’re one to talk.” Yellow cut in. “You’ve changed your form.”

Warp Steven considered admitting to his being a fusion but thought better of it. As good as they tried to be, the diamonds still barely tolerated Stevonnie, offering only a veil of pleasantry to them. Warp Steven doubted he could garner any more respect if the diamonds discovered his identity. “I’ve been experimenting with some new powers. I’m just looking for some space to practice without hurting anyone.”

“And the new form?” Blue questioned.

“Oh, it helps with the transmission of the…” Warp Steven’s words devolved into murmured gibberish.

“Indeed.” Yellow raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

He coughed dryly. “Yeah.”

“Still,” Blue smiled. “It is not an off-putting form. Wouldn’t you agree Yellow?”

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but yes, this new form of yours has a certain appeal to it, Steven.” The diamonds shifted their positions so that both sat at the edge of the bath closest to Warp Steven, looking down at him with interests.

Feeling a now familiar creeping concern, Warp Steven glanced behind him for a way out. “I’m just a bit taller and more muscular, that’s all.”

Unfortunately for the fusion, the exit wasn’t behind him, it was in front, across the great body of water and past the two diamonds. “It’s more than that.” Blue insisted curiously. “You remind me of Mighty Spark.”

“Nonsense!” Yellow exclaimed. “He’s far more attractive than that!” She reached out to grab him.

Warp Steven sprang out of the way. “Hey! No hand stuff in the pool!” His teeth gritted as he realised what he just said. “I’m so glad you don’t know how dirty that was.”

“Dirty?” Questioned Yellow. “Then you should join us in the bath.”

Warp Steven took a step back. “I-I would, but this suit, i-it’s dry clean only.”

“You could take it off.” Blue offered.

“I didn’t bring my trunks.” He found his foot on the bath’s furthest edge, he was cornered.

“Perhaps you would be more comfortable if Yellow shrunk herself and I down to human size?”

“Uh?”

“And I gave us more humanoid forms!” Yellow offered with worrying enthusiasm.

“I have too much Spark and Universe blood in me to feel safe right now.” Warp Steven thought quickly. He knew that fighting through wouldn’t work, even if he wanted to try, the diamonds didn’t diminish in power when Yellow shrunk them. “Actually, yeah, alright.” He agreed. “You guys get to work on that, and I’ll get out of these.” He started to ruffle his clothes as if he were taking them off.

Yellow reached out and touched her fellow diamond with a glowing hand. Her aura encompassed them both as their size decreased.

As the diamond’s shrunk, a gap grew between them. Warp Steven took his chance. At Warp Speed he bolted between them, crossing the water in an instant. The smaller diamonds turned in shock. “He’s running away!?” Blue cried.

Yellow swam over to her, growing them both to their usual size and forms. “We have to get him!”

Warp Steven leapt off the side of the bath and hit the tiles running as the diamonds got out to pursue him. “Door! Lock!” Blue Diamond commanded.

The fusion threw one of Pilot’s darts into the control panel and sent a DED message for Axia to open it.

The doors opened and Warp Steven sprinted through. Almost immediately, Pilot’s clothes phone received a text. Warp Steven donned Pilot’s glasses. It was a text from his mother.

_Why did you just request a door hack? x_

“Explain later!” He dictated into a replying text. That would give him time to decide how the hell he was meant to explain that Blue and Yellow Diamond were after him, thirsty for snoo snoo.

Warp Steven started to make some distance between himself and his pursuers. He turned a corner and ducked into a familiar room. “Spinel! You’ve got to hide me, the diamonds are… Spinel?” He looked side to side for the gem.

“Steven!” From above, Spinel landed upon the fusion. The pair crumpled into a heap, with the full gem on top. Chuckling, she propped herself upon her arms, straddling him. “So, hey Steven! Did you get bigger.”

“Well you’re here aren’t you?.” He purred before he could stop himself. “I mean no! Kinda? I’m a fusion. Steven and Pilot fused. Call me Warp Steven.”

Spinel shook with excitement. “You mean my two bestest friends fused!?”

“Yeah.” Steven smiled back, Spinel was always touchy-feely. Maybe he’d finally caught a break and run into someone immune to his stupid powers. “You gonna get off of me now?”

“Did I do something wrong?” Spinel asked, a sadness crept up on her. “Pilot never asks me to get off before he tells me a story.

Warp Steven realised she was right and that it was his paranoia that was making him treat it as weird, perhaps combined with some of Steven’s pubescent mindset that was also forcing him to repeat the phrase “think unsexy thoughts” in his head on loop. “You’re fine.” He told her. “It’s not your fault.”

A cheeky grin appeared on Spinel’s face. “So you’re saying I’m not bad…” Spinel shone as her body below her neck shifted.

“Oh no.”

“I’m just drawn that way!” She exclaimed.

“I r-really w-wish Pilot hadn’t shown you Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” Warp Steven stammered, trying to concentrate on Spinel’s unchanged face and not the body that belonged to the wife of the movie’s titular character.

“Your face!” Spinel laughed. “What is up with your-” She stopped laughing. “Warp Steven, is there something in your pocket?”

“No!” Cheeks flushed black, Warp Steven pushed the gem off of him and fled the room.

“Wait!” Spinel cried, running after him. “I wanna see it!”

“No you don’t!” The fusion ran until they got to a T intersection. His eyes widened with horror. “Oh no.”

Down one hall appeared Blue and Yellow Diamond. “There he is!” Yellow pointed.

Warp Steven gave one look back at Spinel who was catching up to him and ran down the only empty corridor left to him, through the large white doors.

Once through, Warp Steven slammed the door’s lock function as if his life depended on it. He heard the sounds of lasers and lightning as the diamonds tried to break through. The fusion leant on the door gasping for breath. “My powers work on gems!” He exclaimed to himself.

“What powers are those, fusion?”

Warp Steven looked up in horror at White Diamond. “Y-You can tell I’m a fusion?” He asked, desperate to distract the gem matriarch.

White pointed at the glowing crack beneath her gem, the scar from where Mighty Spark had struck Roxillan’s influence from her. “This crack only shows itself when Mighty Spark or his son are around, it reacts to warp energy apparently. I’d heard that Pilot had fused before. It was not a hard guess.”

“I see. Call me Warp Steven.”

“Well then, Warp Steven, if this new ability is causing you trouble, then maybe we should investigate, together.”

“Nope!” A pink portal appeared beneath Warp Steven’s feet and he fell through.


	5. Meeting the Multiverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nanafua Pizza knows that being mayor of Beach City means she has to be ready for anything; corrupted gem attacks, schisms in Earth/Homeworld relations, anything. What she wasn't ready for were members of her own kind, humans armed with blade and gun marching on her hometown. It's time to find out what they want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Not much for this one, bit of peril maybe.

The man stared down coldly at the little old woman before him. He had demanded direction to the town’s leadership and been pointed to this restaurant. “You are in charge here?” He questioned.

“I’m the mayor.” Nanefua Pizza replied. “How can I help you sir?” She peered distrustfully at the man.

He was tall and lithe, but visibly muscular. He wore a white suit with a matching top hat and longcoat draped over his shoulders, the only colour upon him was a single purple carnation pinned to his shirt. He was well groomed as well, his wavy black hair rolled down his back, not showing messiness at any angle, his goatee was trimmed evenly to a millimeter at least. For all the care put into his appearance, he hardly seemed human. No emotion was permitted on his pale face, and neither empathy nor even interest shone in his eyes. He seemed repellent to all life, save the white pigeon who sat on his shoulder, dressed in an imitation of its master’s clothing. Nanefua would not have trusted the man even if he hadn’t marched a small army to the door of her son’s establishment.

The man’s entourage was split, one half was dressed in white suits with black ties and Stetsons, the other appeared to be sailors, with blue ascots and white caps with the word “MARINE” emblazoned in blue in a turquoise box. The latter group were armed with cutlasses and flintlock rifles.

For all the invasions and evacuations Beach City had faced, the mayor had never considered the possibility of having to deal with a force of her fellow human beings. Nanefua was not the only one to feel the deadly tension. Her bodyguards, rubies, stood at a knife’s edge, ready to leap at the stranger at a moment’s notice. Across the kitchen counter, Bixbite stared at the intruders, her claw opening and closing slowly, ready to start cutting. In the street outside, gems were slowly surrounding the hostile platoon.

The force’s leader took a step towards the mayor, standing an inch from her ruby guards. “Where is the Pilot?”

“Who?” Nanefua replied.

“A trainee of mine. He vanished from my ship and I suspect him of desertion.”

“What makes you think he’s here?” She questioned.

“On our ship we found an opening in the cleaner’s closet.”

“An opening?”

The man did not like to admit when he didn’t understand something. “When we passed through, we found ourselves here and we found this.” He held out his hand. “Slate.”

A man in a gold rimmed Stetson and a long black duster handed him a white fedora.

“This is his hat.” The man in white explained. “We also found his longcoat on your dock.”

“I’ve never heard of them.” Nanefua lied. She could tell the man before her meant no good for her granddaughters’ friend.

“I am here in the interest of the Celestial Dragons. If you are hiding the Pilot, your whole town may be executed.” If the required muscles weren’t so poorly worked, the man may have smiled. “Give me your wrist.”

There was a flash of red as the two little guards fused into one who could look her mayor’s aggressor in the eye. “Get back!”

Their red fist didn’t budge the man’s iron hard body.

With a barely visible glimmer of emotion, the man kicked the fusion’s side.

She flew through the order window, slamming into the kitchen’s far wall and breaking into two groaning rubies.

“Lucci stop!” a voice behind the man ordered.

Rob Lucci loomed over Nanefua, extending his finger.

“I! Said! Stop!” A glowing pink hand slammed into the side of Rob Lucci’s skull, backhanding him into a table.

Lucci stood quickly, his murderous eyes searching for the one who had passed his men so silently to strike him. He stopped. “Who are you?”

Many of the townsfolk present identified the assailant as Stevonnie, they were almost visually identical after all. If they had known the fusion better however, they would have noticed the individual before them was about a head taller and had eyes that glimmered with the experience that only many years of life could bring. They wore a blue pinstripe suit with a pink tie, one hand rested on a sheathed sabre, the other hand dimmed from a pink glow to gleaming black that faded to the same brownish skin tone of the rest of their body. On their shoulders rested an epauleted white longcoat with kanji on the back. “I am Vice Admiral Multiverse.”

“I’ve never heard of you.” He held his pointed finger at them.

“Of course you haven’t.” The vice admiral replied. “I was promoted in secret by the Five Elder Stars.” They pulled a folded parchment out of their jacket and held it out to Lucci. “I serve them directly.”

The man took the writ carefully and examined it, always keeping one eye on its owner. He handed it back. “This document is legitimate.” He admitted suspiciously.

“Would you like to check my pulse?” They held out their wrist.

He took their wrist. He paused. “This is… do you have something in your chest?”

“Some of us have hearts, assassin.” Multiverse replied. “Do you believe I am who I say I am?”

The assassin exhaled with frustration. “I do. Why are you in my way?”

“It’s the other way around I’m afraid.” They looked down on him sternly. “I am on the trail of three of the most dangerous people in the world and I find you blundering through and threatening to alert them. I thought Cipher Pol was meant to be quiet.”

“Who?”

Stevonnie’s lookalike pulled three posters from their jacket and handed them to Lucci. Lucci gave a brief glance before handing them to Slate, his duster wearing subordinate.

Slate straightened himself fearlessly as he read the poster. He gave a frightened squeak which he stifled with a cough. “These are some, ahem, pretty high bounties.”

“The highest one is over five billion.” Rob Lucci stated. “I think you are justified to say ‘extremely’.”

“Yes. Perhaps we should back out? Vice Admiral Multiverse seems to have this under control.”

“No.” His superior replied. “I will bring Pilot in, the vice admiral has his own targets.”

“Their.” Multiverse interjected.

Lucci looked at them in confusion for a moment. “Their own targets.”

“Thank you.” They replied. “You’re looking for Pilot right? He’ll probably be at Brooding Hill in an hour or so, he’ll be in disguise, but you’ll recognise him by the pointed ears and grey skin.”

“Where is this brooding hill?”

“Just outside of town, I’m sure the locals will point you in the right direction if you’re polite.”

With a scowl, Rob Lucci swept past Multiverse. “Slate. Take your men back to the dock and secure it. I’m hunting down Pilot myself.”

“By yourself?” Slate asked, passing the posters to a nearby rifleman.

“Change course for Headquarters if I’m not back in two hours, we don’t want the opening on our ship to become an escape route.” With that, Rob Lucci left Fish Stew Pizza.

Slate looked over to Multiverse. “Perhaps you’d like to stay with us for a while?”

“No.”

He gulped slightly as he adjusted his hat. “Alright. You men heard Lucci! Move out!”

Slate and his soldiers left the establishment and marched for the docks.

With a sigh, Multiverse went over to the table they had thrown Lucci into and stood it up before sitting at it. “Sorry about that.” They glanced over to the gems in the kitchen. “Ruby? Ruby? Are you guys ok? Anybody cracked?”

“I’m ok!” One ruby replied.

The other held out her gem to show it was undamaged. “We’ve never been kicked by a human that hard before!”

“Who else has kicked you?” Nanefua enquired.

“Um… nobody I guess.” Her bodyguard admitted. “But that guy was really strong!”

“Who was he?” Her fellow guard enquired.

“Rob Lucci.” Multiverse replied.

“You know them Stevonnie?” The mayor asked.

“I think you have me mistaken for someone else. But I do know them, they are-” They were cut off by a growl from their stomach. “My apologies, I couldn’t order four vegetarian pizzas and a large diet soda, could I?”

“Of course dear.” Nanefua nodded towards Bixibite to get to work as she sat across from the suited person. “But who is Rob Lucci? Who does he think he is, marching soldiers around our city?”

Multiverse leant back on their chair taking the soda from one of the rubies. “Thank you.” They took a sip as they looked up in a reminiscent fashion, as if the information was a memory from a long time ago. “Rob Lucci is the current leader of Cipher Pol Agis 0, bodyguards and enforcers directly to the World Nobles, Celestial Dragons as he called them. Some of the worst people, slavers and self-centred pricks like you’ve never heard of.” They took another sip to calm their nerves. “They’re what happens after generations of ruling the world with no responsibility.”

“Ruling the world?” Nanefua questioned. “I’ve never even heard of them. You aren’t saying that that Ronaldo boy next door is-”

“Not this world.” They clarified. “Rob, his soldiers, and the dragons are native to another dimension. I’m afraid Pilot left a portal open. It won’t happen again, for a while.”

“Pilot? So that’s why they’re after him?”

“Sort of.” Multiverse noticed Pilot’s white fedora on the floor. They pulled up their sleeve to reveal a black and blue ribbon that they cast out to pick up and don the hat. “Pilot has been feigning allegiance to CP0 for a while. Learning their combat techniques while freeing slaves and embezzling their funds in the background. Last night, Pilot beat a noble half to death and left her traumatized and unable to walk. Nobody knows it was him yet but his sudden disappearance from the Lucci’s warship plus the sudden appearance of a portal has given Rob cause to execute him.”

“Execute? Without a trial?”

They shook their head. “Rob Lucci used to be an assassin, still would be if he had his way. There’s no feeling inside him but an instinct to kill.” They took a long drag on their straw. “Nasty piece of work. He’s been given supreme command and he will murder anyone he thinks he can get away with.”

“I can’t let a killer like that run amok in my city!” Nanefua exclaimed, starting to get up.

Multiverse reached over and put a gentle hand on the mayor’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I just sent him into a trap. Come this evening, he and his crew will be sent packing. But I do need your help.”

“How?”

“You heard Rob’s orders. The men he sent to secure the docks are CP5, dangerous but nothing the gems in Little Homeworld can’t handle, nothing like Rob Lucci.”

“You want us to take them out?” the old woman asked, surprised but not alarmed by the idea.

“No!” Multiverse ordered with a harshness unlike Stevonnie. “Rob is busy at the moment, but he isn’t their only trump card. You need to keep people away from the docks, as far as you can. We can’t have somebody provoke Kaku and Stussy into acting before we’re ready. Pilot and the others will come back with Lucci and deal with them all.”

“I see. Alright.” Nanefua nodded, standing with her guards. “Is there anything else.”

Multiverse’s stomach growled again. “Are those pizzas gonna be long?” They blushed. “I’ve not eaten since this morning.” They cocked their head to realise that one of CP5’s Stetson wearing men was perched outside the restaurant, spying.

Realising he’d been spotted, the agent turned and fled. “ ** _Shave!_** ” He seemed to vanish.

Multiverse’s brow twitched with a momentary effort. “I’ll be right back.”

Having sprinted all the way to Funland, the agent stopped to catch his breath. “I… I got away!” He panted. “When that imposter saw me, I thought I was a goner for su-” His eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed on the boardwalk, unconscious.


	6. Advice in the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warp Steven cannot keep running, he's this close to breaking down, he needs help. Maybe his hastily made escape portal will throw him into some comforting arms, or at someone who can actually help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: slightly suggestive scenes

High above the trees of Beach City Woods, a pink-rimmed portal appeared, a fusion falling through it.

Warp Steven turned upwards as he fell, curling in his finger to close the portal on the diamond on the other side. “Thank flock for that. Now then, what am I dealing with this time?” He turned back to the rapidly approaching green canopy. “Terminal velocity, right.” With Steven’s powers, his fusion slowed to a gentle fall, landing on a high branch. “Well this isn’t too bad.” He told himself. “Nature, fresh air, and nobody around who wants to date me!” He frowned a bit before a cracking noise drew his attention. The branch he stood on was moments from breaking. “Aha!” He jumped to another branch. “Not today branch!”

Unfortunately, Warp Steven misjudged his weight.

When he stopped falling, the fusion tried to make sense of his surroundings. He had fallen headfirst through the canopy, but his arms had stopped him from faceplanting, so he was now laying with his front facing downwards but his torso and head held off the leaflitter, supported by his strong upper limbs. Warp Steven felt that he must have landed near the base of an old tree, he felt its thick roots on his legs and under his palms. He reconsidered his theory when he felt the ‘roots’ struggle against him.

Opening his eyes revealed his hands to be pinning a pair of thick orange wrists above their owner’s head. Fanned out on the ground behind the owner’s arms was her orangey-white hair. Warp Steven’s eyes tracked downwards with mounting terror. “J-Jasper!”

Jasper’s glare of aggression was tainted by sudden confusion as she identified the face on top of her. “Pilot? You fused with my Diamond!? You deserve no such privilege you pebble!” She attempted to wrestle the fusion off of her, but Warp Steven’s arms, stiff from shock, kept her down.

“This is all consensual I promise!” He purred. He winced. “In this context that probably sounds bad.”

Jasper stopped straining herself for a moment. “Will you release me, my Diamond?”

“Oh, of course!” For an instant he didn’t move. What if Jasper tried to grab him like the diamonds had? At warp speed, the fusion leapt off of Jasper and put a few meters between himself and her. “There you go.”

Jasper stood with a concerned glare. “How are you scared of me? You are stronger.”

“I’m not scared.” Warp Steven insisted. “I’m tired.”

Jasper looked up through the branches at the sun, still quite high in the sky. She shook her head, she couldn’t chalk her Diamond’s state up to weakness. “Then rest. I’ll keep watch.” Jasper lead him back to her clearing.

The work Pilot planned for Jasper’s home was not yet underway. There was thus nothing present to tip Steven off to the conspiracy Pilot and Jasper were part of. Warp Steven traced a foot through the bare earth, half remembering what would soon be underneath, such thoughts were risky, one blundered phrase spoken aloud could etch the plot into Steven’s memory, but thinking about it kept Steven’s memories of the place at bay. He also kept an eye on his hostess.

Jasper seemed much her normal self, as accommodating to her diamond as usual and no more so. Jasper also wasn’t one to stoop to deception for her own plans, Warp Steven knew. “Don’t you have to lie down to sleep?” She questioned, scanning the tree line.

“I’m not that sort of tired.” Warp Steven explained. “I just need a few minutes to come to my senses without somebody chasing me.”

Jasper summoned her helmet as she balled her fists. “You should have said you were being chased!” Her casual scan of the surroundings intensified. “Who is chasing you? Why?”

“A-A lot of people.” He stammered, surprised by how seriously the quartz was taking the situation. “I’ve gotten away for now! As for why… It’s hard to explain.”

“What do you mean?” She demanded, tearing her eyes from the trees to look into his, glowing pink.

“I, um.” He took a deep breath. “Jasper, do you feel something towards me?”

“Loyalty.”

“Ok, that’s… good? But do you feel a desire towards me?” The words were massively uncomfortable, but Jasper’s answers would be the difference between respite and being on the run again.

“I desire to protect you with my life.”

“Ok, less good, but probably normal. I mean more… romantic… towards me?”

Jasper gave the fusion a very long look. She considered all the relationships Steven had described as romantic; Ruby and Sapphire, Steven and Connie, the purple pearl and the peridot in pigtails just to name a few. She considered the behaviour of such couples; fusing, kissing, putting on dumb human clothes to ‘get married’. She considered herself performing such activities with anyone, let alone the only one quarter gem before her. She couldn’t help but grimace. But he was her Diamond. “My Diamond, are you ordering me to-”

“What!?” Warp Steven exclaimed. “No! Chorus most sonorous, no!” He caught his breath. “But you don’t want to do stuff like that with me?”

“No.”

For the first time since he had formed, Warp Steven relaxed. “Thank truck for that!” He sat on a boulder and slumped back. “I think I’m gonna have a nap after all.”

As he closed his eyes, Steven’s phone beeped. Guilt washed over Warp Steven as he saw a message from Connie on it. “Where r u? U still fused?”

“Still fused.” He texted back. “Will come back when powers figured out. Not take long. Sorry for thing with u and u mum.”

“It’s ok.” Connie replied. “We only want u.”

Warp Steven leapt off the boulder as he read the final message, his face a mask of horror. “No no no no no no no no no!”

He shut off Pilot and Steven’s phones before Connie could correct her text to “We only want 2 help u!!”

Sensing the fusion’s dismay, Jasper turned. “What’s happened!?”

Panicking, Warp Steven paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair. “I-I thought it would stop when I left!” Little did Warp Steven know, but his assumption was right, when he left people under his power, the compulsion left with him, leaving them only with fuzzy memories of meeting a very attractive man. “What have I done? What have I done!?” His footfalls started to make three-inch-deep impressions in the ground. “What about the others?” His eyes shot skywards as if he expected a ship full of licentious diamonds to appear in it at any moment.

Jasper could see Warp Steven’s mental state deteriorate before her eyes. “My Diamond?”

“I-I need to run away!” Pilot’s scar appeared on Warp Steven’s cheek. “I’m hurting people!” He turned pink. “I need to go to another universe and- no, the old man could follow the portal trail!” the black scar grew, extending across his handsome face and down his neck. The skin underneath glowed brighter.

Jasper knew what was coming and knew she wouldn’t be able to face it alone, she needed to stop it before it began. She strained her mind to remember what had been done last time Steven had panicked so. She lunged. “Steven! Pilot! It’s going to be fine!” Her arms wrapped around him, unsure if he was going to rip her apart or start crying, she didn’t know which she dreaded most.

“I-I’m scared!” The fusion suddenly sobbed.

“You don’t have to be, you aren’t alone.”

“But everything I’ve-”

“We can fix it. The world hasn’t ended yet.”

“I, I know.”

“You should unfuse.” Jasper offered. “You’re upsetting yourself.”

“No. I need to fix this, together.” The glow diminished as Pilot’s scar shrank away to nothing. Warp Steven slumped on Jasper’s shoulder. “Thank you Jasper.”

“I was made to keep you safe, even when you don’t want me to.” They both stood for a moment. “Can I let go now?”

“Please.”

As Jasper let Warp Steven collapse onto the ground, she sat down in front of him. “What’s happened? Tell me everything.”

So, Warp Steven took a deep breath and began to recount his disastrous first day of existence, how his mouth said things he didn’t want it to say, how he had accidently convinced four humans he was flirting with them, that his pink portals only opened on the most uncomfortable of situations. He started to tear up again as he mentioned how his powers overcame Steven’s girlfriend, but Jasper kept him on track. “So yeah,” he summarised, “I think I have some sort of mind control power that I can’t control.”

“Can’t control yet.” Jasper corrected. “This power is dangerous but now you aren’t in danger you can learn how to harness it.”

“I just want to turn it off so I can talk to people.”

“Yes, but with this power, we could have an army!”

“Jasper, no.” Warp Steven glared.

“Alright, my Diamond. How do we turn it off?”

Steven shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s probably something up here.” He tapped his head. He thought hard. “What am I?”

“Three quarters non gem?” Jasper offered. “Maybe this is a fear of death thing?”

“I don’t fear death.” He replied. “That came out kinda fast.”

“Perhaps you are making up for the kelmep’s inherent weakness.”

“Go truck yourself.”

“What about Connie?”

“What about her?” Warp Steven asked, subtly seeding a warning that the quartz was on thin ice.

Oblivious to the hazard, Jasper explained. “You love her right? Maybe this power is your way of making sure she doesn’t leave?”

“I refer you to my previous statement.” Warp Steven stood, trying not to be angry at Jasper’s innocently insensitive suggestions. “I think I need to talk to an expert.”

“Who?”

Warp Steven opened a portal. “Another fusion.”


	7. Expert Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While her words were useful, Jasper barely knew what she was taliking about when exploring the issues of a fusion. Warp Steven has to find sombody more experienced to talk to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Crude humour and suggestive situations

The cool humid air of the forest was wiped from Warp Steven’s face by a gust of dry volcanic heat from the portal. With one look back at Jasper, he passed through into the burning room of the temple.

Garnet’s abode and storage space of bubbled gems was largely empty nowadays, what with the immediate curing of any corrupted gems that were discovered. Again, Warp Steven’s portal had opened at an odd angle, forcing him to step out with his nose almost touching a warm rock wall. The portal closed behind the fusion, but he hesitated to turn around, every time he had taken a portal, he had either been thrown into someone’s arms or placed with something intensely private going on behind him. Warp Steven shook his head. “This is ridiculous.” He thought. “What would Garnet be doing in he-”

“Sa-Sapphire!” A voice too high and ineloquent to be Garnet’s cried ecstatically.

“Ruby!?” Warp Steven shouted, burying his face in his hands to avoid thinking about whatever was going on behind him.

“W-What!?” Ruby shrieked. “How!?”

“Steven!?” Her wife exclaimed. “I didn’t predict you, I… Warp Steven?”

“Y-Yes?”

There was a flash and the unmistakable sound of fusion. “You can turn around now.” Garnet stated.

Warp Steven nodded and slowly turned. “I… sorry Garnet. I needed your advice and I didn’t think you be… you know.”

“It’s fine.” Garnet sat on the side of the lava pool. She patted on a space beside her. “Take a seat. You look exhausted.”

He looked at the space with a fearful suspicion in his eyes. “I-I would but… I need to be sure of something first.”

“Ask away.”

“Ok.” He agreed. “But the thing is this is going to sound weird as flock out of context.”

“You mean weird as fuck.” Garnet translated.

“Garnet!”

“It’s what Pilot would say.” She countered.

“Yeah.” He admitted. “This is kinda his compromise with Steven.”

“I see.” The elder fusion nodded. “But please, ask your question. I won’t judge you.”

“Alright.” The younger fusion took a breath. “Do you want me to show you a good time?” His face recoiled in horror.

Garnet tightened her lips.

“That is not what I meant to say.” He squeaked. “I meant, are you attracted to me?”

Though she didn’t speak, it was clear that the clarification didn’t comfort her.

“Ok, still sounds bad, I know. I have this power I can’t turn off that makes people want to date me, it didn’t work on Jasper and I’m really hoping it doesn’t work on you.”

Garnet’s expression softened by a millimetre. “I am not affected by your power.”

“Oh thank Chorus!” He exhaled, almost staggering to sit beside her. “I’ve had a really bad day.”

“This power must have caused a lot of trouble.” She reasoned.

Warp Steven only sighed for about ten seconds, slowly lowering his head until it was between his knees.

“You need to tell me everything.”

Warp Steven nodded as he retrieved his head from his lap. “Well, it all started when I first appeared. I barely got a sentence out before I started flirting with Pearl.”

“That is very unlike your components.” Garnet noted.

“It wasn’t on purpose!” Warp Steven exclaimed. “My mouth just says things like that, like with you just now.”

“Tell me how you felt.” She requested.

“How I felt?” He questioned. “I was embarrassed! I didn’t mean what I said, I would never- I mean you and Pearl are beautiful but-”

“Thank you.” Garnet stopped him before he got too stressed out. “I meant before you said those things. Let’s start with Pearl.”

“Oh.” He glanced away. “Well so much has happened since I talked to Pearl, I can’t exactly remember.”

“Warp Steven.” She held his hands. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

He followed her instructions.

“I want you to go back to when you first formed.”

He nodded.

“Now walk yourself to just before you accidently say those things to Pearl and tell me how you feel.”

“Confused? I wasn’t meant to be there; it was meant to be Warp Pearl. I didn’t know who I was or what had happened and Pearl was asking how I was and I didn’t know. I started telling her what she wanted to hear, that I felt good, I felt strong and confident. She pointed out these,” He tapped the whiskers on his ears, “I felt weird. Pilot doesn’t have them.”

“Whiskers aren’t what make you a man.”

“I know that.” He nodded. “You wanna see what does?”

“No.”

“I didn’t mean to say that.”

“I know. Keep talking about Pearl.”

“Ok. I know Pearl didn’t mean it like this but part of me felt like I needed to prove that I was manly.”

“So you flirted with her.” Garnet surmised.

“I didn’t think of the words, they just happened.”

“I see, let’s continue.”

Warp Steven thus continued his recollection. Whenever unintended words or unfortunate instances of his power showed up, Garnet would stop him and have him explain his emotions at the time, casting his mind back to the moment when his feelings were hard to recall.

About half an hour later, Garnet had been caught up entirely. “Tell me how you were feeling before you offered me a good time.”

“I was worried that you were going to be like the others.” Warp Steven admitted. “That I was going to have to figure out a way to escape again.”

“I’m sorry you felt that way.” She said. “I think I have an insight on your powers though.”

“You do?”

Garnet nodded. “Whenever Pilot participates if fusion, the fusion created often exemplifies one common trait to an extreme, Amethyst’s thrill-seeking side causes Warp Amethyst to literally swell with excitement, Pearl’s recovery from great fear makes her fusion fearless to the point the emotion is expelled outward. This makes the fusion strong, but sometimes vulnerable, their power balances on a single linchpin. When Pilot and his partner view the common trait differently, it is hard for the fusion to use their power correctly, as happened with Warp Peridot.”

“So if I understand what I’m about, I’ll be able to get my powers under control?”

“I would think so.” Garnet gave her fellow fusion a very thoughtful look. “From what you’ve told me, you seem to speak unwittingly when you are nervous or unsure.”

“I just don’t want to look dumb. You know?”

“You don’t want to be disliked.” Garnet proposed.

“Who would?” Warp Steven asked in agreement.

“You don’t have to worry about that Warp Steven, both your components are very likeable. Steven has a knack for understanding what people need, and Pilot can read a room. I believe you have a focus on some aspect of charisma. When you feel yourself stumble socially, you panic and cover with some superficial pickup line or crude joke instead of trusting who you are as a person.”

“So I just have to be socially perfect.” Warp Steven gave a brief laugh at the impossibility.

Garnet took his hands again with a shake of her head. “Close your eyes.” When he had done so she continued. “You want to be liked.”

He nodded.

“Then you don’t have to be perfect. Friendships aren’t formed by showing perfection, they grow from vulnerability. It’s scary but, I’m your friend Warp Steven, as is Spinel, Connie, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream, and Pearl. You can be vulnerable around us.”

Warp Steven opened his eyes, no longer pink, but the shining neon blue of the warp. “I-I’m scared. I don’t know who I am.”

Garnet hugged him close. “A lot of fusions feel that way, you don’t have to hide it.”

Warp Steven let go and stood. “Mighty Dad just sent a message on Pilot’s emergency line.”

“He’s probably worried.”

“How could he be?” Warp Steven asked, putting on his sunglasses to read it. “He doesn’t even know that I- oh.”

_Warp Steven, Connie hasn’t been able to get you on Pilot or Steven’s phones, she’s called myself, Axia, Pearl and Steven’s dad and we’re worried about you. Please respond._

Warp Steven switched on both phones and was instantly assailed by a barrage of increasingly worried texts and phone messages. He saw the correction to the text from Connie that had made him switch off his devices in the first place, making him feel like an idiot. Axia’s texts had went from simple update requests to full blown panic that the diamonds had kidnapped her son, knotting his guts with further guilt. He saw one of Pearl’s earlier texts.

_Is all ok?_

_You are late for training, waiting for u at home._

“Pearl!” He exclaimed. “I forgot about training with Pearl!” He looked back at Garnet before rushing for the door.

“Warp Steven wait! Your eyes!” She pursued him.

In Steven’s beach house, Warp Steven saw Pearl sitting patiently on the sofa.

He slowed his run to a confident strut. “Oh, hey Pearl!” He said as if just noticing her. “Sorry for missing our training, but some things came up.”

Pearl looked up. “It’s alright, I know. Connie called me. Are you alright?”

“All the better for seeing you.” He flirted before laughing it off.

“Why did you turn off your phones? We’ve all been worried.”

“Right, sorry. I should probably tell everyone I’m alright.”

He turned and texted Connie, Priyanka, Mighty Spark, and Axia the same message.

_Sorry for going dark. I’m ok, Garnet’s taking care of me_ _😉_

He was about to send the message to Greg, when he stopped to actually read what Steven’s father had sent.

_Hey Warp Stu-ball, Connie says you’re having a hard time and she can’t reach you. I know I’m only half your dad, but I’m parked outside Little Homeworld if you want to talk. We could go for a drive._

Warp Steven’s thumb stilled. Pilot’s ability to hide the truth from his parents was not an ability Steven shared, not when he was confronted like this. He had to be more honest with his response but couldn’t think with the text leering at him. As the screen went dark, he saw a pink glare reflected in it.

“It’s ok Warp Steven.” Garnet assured, closing in on him. “You can tell your friends that today’s been bad for you. We aren’t going to hate you for making mistakes.”

“I-I know I-” He was interrupted as the Warp Pad lit up.

On the pad appeared Amethyst. “He’s not on Homeworld anymore Pearl, we can call Axi and tell her that-” Her eyes locked onto Warp Steven. “Who is this?” She asked with an obvious interest.

“Oh no…” He murmured.

“I-It’s Warp Steven.” Pearl explained.

Unfortunately, the quartz had stopped listening. “Well hey there stranger, what’s your name.”

“Warp Steven.” He replied. “As in the fusion of Pilot and Steven.”

“Really? That’s so cool. We should hang out.” Amethyst stood in as an attractive a pose as she could muster as she stepped towards him.

“Are you listening to what I’m saying? You can’t seriously be asking what I think you’re asking!”

Seeing the immanant danger Garnet and Pearl interposed themselves. “Amethyst, you are being affected by his power,” the fusion explained, “go to your room until we’ve gotten this under control.”

Amethyst strained to look around her allies. “Y-You don’t like how I look? That’s ok, I can change that!” She shapeshifted herself to look taller and more model like.

“Pearl, hold her!” Garnet took Warp Steven by the arm and rushed him to the warp pad, tossing Amethyst into Pearl’s arms.

“Pilot isn’t allowed on the warp pad!” Pearl called, holding the quartz back with all her strength.

“It’s an emergency!” Garnet justified.

On the warp pad Warp Steven looked back at Amethyst, his closest friend (averaging out his component’s various relationships), shapeshifted not for fun, but to be accepted. It hardened a lump in his throat. “Garnet wait!” He swallowed hard. “Amethyst! You don’t ever have to change to be beautiful, and if anyone ever makes you feel otherwise, I-I will kick their butt!”

With that, he and his fellow fusion were gone.


	8. Fathers' Support

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warp Steven escapes with Garnet by a warp pad, unfortunately, teleporters have never liked Pilot and what better way to screw his fusion over than to place him before a horde of new people to fall in love with him. Thankfully, Warp Steven knows the best getaway driver in the buisness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for this Chapter: Crude humour and suggestive situations.

In the stream of the warp, Warp Steven glanced around with caution. “Wh- What happened Garnet?”

The elder fusion stared into his again pink eyes. “Seeing how worried everyone was about you put you under stress and you slipped back into this coping mechanism.” She saw him about to stress himself farther over the news. “It’s alright.” She took his hands. “People slip all the time. What matters is that we keep trying. Breathe with me, in… and out.”

Warp Steven closed his eyes to concentrate on his breathing. “In… and-” Suddenly, blue sparks exploded from the side of his neck. “Ow! What the buck!?”

“Your warp suit broke.” Garnet observed.

“Yeah.” He realized. “Shouldn’t take too long to fix.” He detached the warp node from his temple and pulled a small screwdriver out of seemingly nowhere. “Of all the things to go wrong from using the warp pad, this isn’t that-” they arrived at their destination, the curtain of blue lifting around them, “bad? Garnet, why are we here?”

“This… wasn’t where I meant to take us.” She admitted with rare surprise.

The pair of fusions stood in the centre of Little Homeworld. The bustle of gems going about their new lives ground to a halt around them. Warp Steven’s pink eyes shifted from face to familiar face, many of which peered at him with disconcerting interest.

The sudden shift in mood brought with it silence.

“Hey Garnet,” Orange Spodumene suddenly called out, “who’s your cute friend?”

“Oh carp.” Warp Steven murmured.

“It’s ok Warp Steven.” Garnet said quietly, holding his cheek. “Just breathe, you don’t need powers to get people to like you. No one expects to be perfect.”

“Y-Yeah.” He nodded. “I know.” He tried to calm himself and be genuine.

“How come you’re holding him like that?” The freckled lapis lazuli asked jealously. “You’re married!”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Questioned Peridot, unaffected by Warp Steven’s power.

“Save some for the rest of us!” Cherry Quartz demanded.

“Garnet,” Warp Steven stammered, “I can’t do this.”

Garnet clenched her jaw, glancing to the side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw gems creep around to flank them. She lowered her arms to grip his sides. “Then run!” She span around and threw him.

Instantly, just under half of the gems charged, bowling Garnet aside as she tried to block them. Some of the unaffected gems, realising something was wrong, tried to aid the fusion in stopping their friends, but the larger part of the horde escaped, stampeding in the direction Warp Steven flew.

Landing in a populated street with the mob behind him, Warp Steven hit the ground running. He didn’t know what he was running to, but as Garnet had thrown him this way, she must have seen something in her future vision. As he fled the mob, gems and visiting humans joined it, driven by infatuation or misunderstanding of the situation as simple fun.

“Of all the times for Pilot’s warp suit and Steven’s speed powers to both not work!” He complained. He looked back at the growing crowd of admirers. “I like you all as friends!” He shouted.

“He likes me!” Orange Spodumene cried among many similar exclamations. “He really likes me!”

“As friends!” He repeated. Warp Steven’s ears twitched suddenly as Pilot’s observation haki kicked in. He leapt aside, just avoiding the lapis’ divebomb. “Chorus!” He cast out Pilot’s ribbon and pulled himself up to the top of a building to put some distance between him and his pursuers. He looked around and made a double take.

At the edge of Little Homeworld was parked a familiar, oft repaired van. “Dad Universe!” He chuckled with sheer delight.

Behind him, the freckled lapis lazuli took to the wing again. “Got you now babe!” She leered down aggressively.

Suddenly, she was intercepted by a streak of blue. Lapis, the elder of the two, caught her in mid-air. “What the heck is wrong with everyone today!?” With an aerial flip, she threw her fellow lapis into the approaching crowd below. She raised her arms.

Little Homeworld’s plumbing roared as thousands of gallons of water erupted from the cracks in the street, rising into tidal waves.

“You guys need to leave my friend alone!”

“Lapis!” Warp Steven cried.

She looked back at him.

“Don’t hurt them.”

She gave a smile and a nod. “No prob Bob.” The water swirled into walls, penning the mob in.

“Thanks Lapis.” Warp Steven gave a wave before jumping down to run for Greg’s van.

By taking the back streets, Warp Steven managed not to accrue any more followers until he came to one of Little Homeworld’s major roads, thankfully empty, the gems there having left to see what Lapis was doing. He was only a few hundred feet from the outer entrance to the compound, where he could see Steven’s father, sitting in the open back of his van, sorting some old CDs. He was about to make a break for it when Lapis crashed in the middle of the street. “Lapis!” He ran over to help her up.

“Warp Steven?” She questioned, dazed by the crash as she stood.

“Yeah.”

“They escaped.”

“What?” He turned to the thunder of a stampede as the infatuated gems found him. “Oh sugar honey ice tea.” Lapis took off to do what she could from the air as Warp Steven ran again. “Dad Universe!” He screamed. “Dad!”

Greg raised his head from his music, a smile and wave ready. He froze, half agape, as he saw the second largest crowd of crazed fans in his life.

“Dad! Start the van! Start the fudging van!”

Coming back to his senses, Greg threw his CDs in the back and ran to the driver’s seat. He turned the key in the rusty ignition, once, twice. “Come on, come on!” The third turn brought the engine to life.

Out of the wing mirror, he saw his son’s fusion, still a good hundred feet away, gesture for him to drive. “Go! Go! Go!”

Trusting the fusion knew what he was doing, Greg pressed down the gas pedal. With a screech of tires, the van took off.

At the same time, Warp Steven covered 50 feet in a single diamond empowered bound and threw forward Pilot’s ribbon. The ribbon’s end caught Greg’s bumper as he sped away, Warp Steven created a single pink hexagon beneath his bare feet, protecting them as he was dragged behind, slowly pulling himself in along Pilot’s ribbon.

Soon, they left Little Homeworld far behind, with the gems far enough away for them to return to their senses. At about the same time, Warp Steven got close enough to climb into the van’s open back, closing the doors behind him as he sat with his back to the vehicle’s walls. “Chorus curse it.” He panted. “What’s wrong with me?”

Greg wanted to tell them that they were fine, but he didn’t know, fusion wasn’t a part of Steven’s life that he really got, even his stint as Steg only provided a limited insight. The fusion in the back of his van was clearly a different beast entirely. “What happened kiddo?”

Warp Steven took out his screwdriver and started to fix Pilot’s warp suit to avoid meeting Greg’s eyes in the mirror. “I dunno, they just…” He couldn’t lie to Steven’s father. “I’ve been running from my problems all day. Every time I escape somebody, I turn someone else into a hypnocreep. Every time I try to fix things, I hurt more people.”

“People like those gems?” Greg guessed.

The fusion nodded sadly. “Them and the cool kids, and Ke-.”

“The cool kids as is Jenny, Sour Cream, and Buck?” Greg asked.

“Yeah.”

“I saw them on the way up to Little Homeworld, just ten minutes ago!” He recalled. “They didn’t look like ‘hypnocreeps’ to me.”

“They didn’t?”

“No. They were hanging out at the arcade from the looks. Things aren’t always as bad as you think Stu-ball. Sorry, Warp Stu-ball.”

The fusion chuckled. “Thanks dad Universe.” As he finished repairing the warp suit, his eyes turned blue. “Wait, you took the long way to Little Homeworld. You passed the arcade?”

“Yep.” Greg replied. “The north side of the city has been blocked off. I don’t really know why. Maybe a pipe burst?”

“Weird, I was there just after lunch.” The fusion mused. His mind was drawn to something else before he could think further. “Are we going to Brooding Hill?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Greg asked his half son, who, as far as he could tell, had yet to look up from whatever he was doing.

“Pilot runs this way with Kiki.” Warp Steven replied, not thinking to explain that he had been subconsciously tracking every turn the vehicle made since it left Little Homeworld.

“Well, I thought it would be nice to talk there than cramped in here.” Greg reasoned.

“We’re there already.” Warp Steven realized. “You definitely broke some speed limits.”

“Have you seen how fast some of those gems can go!” His half father laughed nervously as he parked. “Also, Warp Steven, there is another reason I brought you here.”

Warp Steven opened the back of the van. “And why’s tha- Mighty Dad!? Mumia!?”


	9. Assassinated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now with Steven's dad and Pilot's parents Warp Steven has finally gotten his powers under control. Just in time too, somebody wants Pilot dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this Chapter: Violence typical of One Piece, ie; blood, combat with intent to kill, broken bones, injuries that should be outright deadly.

Before Warp Steven could speak farther, Axia flew into him. “Oh my Stars! My baby! Connie called your father and I and told us everything! You must have been running from people harassing you all day, no wonder you weren’t replying to your texts! I’m so sorry for what I said in texts forty-seven to fifty-one! You are officially ungrounded!”

“I was grounded?” The fusion questioned as he crawled from the back of the van. With her computer like mind and telepathic link to the ship’s messaging system, Axia tended to send reams of text messages when she was in high emotion, dictating her entire thought process. Pilot had learned that one could normally get the gist by reading the first and last one, in this case mild curiosity and a frantically scrambled plan to rescue him from Homeworld respectively. He had apparently missed something in the middle.

“Nevermind.” The aquamarine shook her head. “Why did you need a door opened on Homeworld?”

“Oh, er, Blue and Yellow got kinda… weird around me.” Her half son admitted embarrassedly.

Axia’s face shifted to a look of rage, thankfully not directed at Warp Steven. “Did they hurt you? Did they… touch you? Mighty Spark! Get your giant blue hussy on the phone!”

Pilot’s father was busy, however. As Greg had migrated round to the back of his van to join them all, Mighty Spark had taken him by the arm and pulled him in to whisper something. He backed away to see Greg’s look of sudden horror. “We’ll be fine.” He mouthed through his grin.

“Wait! It wasn’t their fault!” Warp Steven insisted. “I’m fine! I got away!”

“I-I guess that’s alright.” Axia nodded uncertainly, she was still greatly offended that the apparently omnipotent diamonds had failed to control themselves for the sake of her partial son’s wellbeing. A word would still be in order in her opinion, if the fusion before her wasn’t so vehemently against it. “We understand if you’d rather not, but the three of us are here to listen if you need to talk about anything that happened today.”

“There’s not much to talk about really.” Warp Steven replied both having resolved his days issues already, and not wanting to dictate to the gem with a twenty-five percent parental steak hold on him a hitlist. “I just had some trouble with my powers. You know how all my gem powers are tied to my emotions?” He shot Steven’s father a glance. “I was having some trouble being myself, so my powers tried to lie for me. To be fair, I didn’t know who I was. I think I’ve got that figured out.”

“Really?” Greg questioned with a supportive smile that would have been a chuckle if not for the news Mighty Spark had just given him. “Most people spend their entire lives trying to do that, and you did it in one afternoon?”

“Well, I get me enough to keep my powers from going off by themselves.”

“Well that’s a relief.” Mighty Spark grinned. “Now that that is cleared up, Pearl did mention something else.” He reached out and pinched Warp Steven’s pinkish white suit jacket. “Not their usual colour.” He noted.

“My jackets sort of fused too.”

“I see.” He nodded, still smiling. He opened the garment to reveal the inner breast pocket. Stitched in blue upon it were four dots, connected to a central dot by lines to make a plus-shaped symbol. In the symbol’s upper left quadrant were the letters C and P, on the right the numeral 0. “I wondered where Pilot learnt the six powers.”

Warp Steven raised his hands with an amused admission. “You got him. Pilot’s been a double agent in Cipher Pol for the last two and a half years, learning their secrets, stealing their money, freeing their slaves, and they never suspected a thing.”

Only when the confession was complete did Mighty Spark’s grin of pride sink slightly. “Pearl said he was injured when he came back.”

Warp Steven took a step back. “I-It was just some bruises.”

“They struck you.”

“What can you expect from a scumbag government?” The fusion questioned, trying to defuse the metahuman’s incredibly well veiled anger.

“How many times?” His lips were thin, the upward turn almost gone.

“Well, I…” Suddenly, Warp Steven stopped, a pink hexagon appearing behind his head. An instant later the pane chipped with the retort of a ricocheting bullet. All four on the hill turned in the direction of the shot.

On a far hill, they saw a man in white. In a blur of speed, he seemed to vanish. A few seconds later, Rob Lucci stood at the bottom of Brooding Hill. “Not nearly enough.” As he spoke, his besuited white pigeon caught up with him, perching on his shoulder.

“Lucci!?” Warp Steven exclaimed in surprise. “How are you…” He slapped a palm on his forehead and turned from the agent in embarrassment. “I left the blooming portal open!”

“I’ll take that a confession of your identity, Pilot.” Rob Lucci thrust his finger out twice. “ ** _Flying Finger Pistol!_** ”

Barely turning back to his assailant, Warp Steven raised a hand. A new hexagon, larger than the last caught the two bolts of compressed air, the closer range cracking the barrier. “As far as you’re concerned.” The fusion smiled.

“Who is this?” Greg exclaimed.

“An assassin.” Warp Steven replied.

“Why is he here?”

“To assassinate me I assume.”

“Then why are you going towards him!?” Greg went to pursue the fusion when Mighty Spark put an arm out to stop him.

“Answer your father, he’s worried.” He called.

Not turning back, Warp Steven smiled. “I’ve been looking for something I can handle all day! You guys leave this to me!”

Lucci’s expressionless face slowly broadened into a predatory smirk. “You aren’t even close to my power.”

“Bold of you to assume that matters. You remember when you met Luffy?”

A flash of anger crossed the assassin’s face, his bird ruffled its feather’s and took off. Rob Lucci made himself smile again at the boy halfway down the hill to meet him. “You want to provoke me? Very well. **_Shave!_** ” He vanished. “ ** _Finger Pistol!_** ” He reappeared, his finger, hardened by haki, piercing Warp Steven’s chest.

“Ste-” Greg cried out in horror before Mighty Spark slapped a hand over his mouth. No normal human could have kept Greg from his son at that moment. It undoubtably saved his life that Mighty Spark strong enough to hold him back.

His fight over, Rob Lucci’s smile vanished. He looked past his opponent and up the hill. “I expected more from you.”

“Us?” Mighty Spark questioned, still smiling.

Warp Steven weakly put a hand on his opponent’s wrist. “Oi, I’m not dead yet.”

“You’re dead right now.” Lucci stated. “And I’m disappointed in how poorly you fought.” He whipped his finger out of the fusion, sidestepping the fountain of red so as not to sully his white suit as Warp Steven collapsed. “Aren’t you going to come after me?” He asked the people on the hilltop. Suddenly his blank face twisted into an expression of agony.

“Told you he was fine.” Mighty Spark grinned, letting Greg go. “I know when my son is faking his death.”

“I guess,” Greg gasped, his panic decreasing, “but he let all that happen just to do that?”

Kneeling, Warp Steven held up his fist, empowered by armament haki and lodged directly in Rob Lucci’s crotch. “ ** _Pistol Fist; Jewel Buster._** ” Before Lucci could react, the fusion rose and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards, his top hat left behind. Warp Steven caught the hat and inspected it. “Nice! Hey mumia, catch!” He threw it up the hill.

Axia caught the hat and looked down at it briefly. “Are you seriously stealing his hat!?”

“Stealing’s wrong but attempted murder’s worse!” He proclaimed joyously.

Axia sighed.

“Those were some crazy special effects!” Greg called. “You’ve got to warn me first, I almost had a heart attack!”

“Special effects?” Warp Steven questioned.

Greg immediately felt his heart rate leap up again.

Rob Lucci’s feet caught the grass beneath them and he ground to a stop, refusing to let the kick down him. “How are you alive!?” He demanded.

“Hm?” Warp Steven turned back to him.

“Your heart has been pierced. You should have bled out by now!”

“Yeah!” He agreed. “You put old Thumper in quite a state, I would have died way before my healing powers kicked in,” as if on cue, his chest sparkled slightly as the hole in it sealed, “that is if not for Spinny!” He patted the untouched side of his chest before correcting his gesture by spinning his finger. “I’ll give you this one chance to surrender before you get hurt.”

Rob Lucci smiled again, shrugging off his longcoat. “A second heart? That covers one weakness. **_Shave!_** ” As his coat hit the floor, he vanished again.

This time, Warp Steven vanished with him. The pair became visible again directly between where they had stood. “ ** _Iron Baricade!_** ” The fusion stood stock still, the human was lurched over, his opponent’s fist in his stomach. “I don’t think you understand.” Warp Steven explained, his voice the very image of civility. “You haven’t just been teaching Pilot how to use your six powers, you’ve been teaching him how to shut each one down.” With an effort, he threw Lucci backwards.

Lucci recovered from the blow quickly. “I take back my disappointment. Now’s your chance to impress me.” He lunged for his prey.

Warp Steven met his punch with a block, followed immediately with a punch of his own. Lucci knew of course that Pilot wasn’t nearly as incompetent in combat as he had appeared in training, he would have had the trainee removed if he was, but this level of power was unpredicted. The fighter’s precision was to be expected, behind the propensity to mock and quip, Pilot kept masterful track in combat as he did now, blocking and dodging almost every strike and countering rapidly. What surprised the assassin was the raw strength behind those counters and his ability to not budge when blows hit home. The tiny stick of a man Lucci knew as Pilot, though he may stand back up from a good many, would have been sent flying from the impact of even one of Lucci’s punches.

The pink barricades and ability to regenerate was new as well, though not the streaks of blue the trainee produced as the pair of them had their deadly dance around the hill. Rob Lucci had been told that his foe would be in disguise, but this was different, more than makeup and a change of clothes. He even looked different under the scrutiny of observation haki, though still recognisable. “Are you Pilot’s relative?” He asked, throwing a punch.

“As far as you’re concerned, I am Pilot.” Warp Steven retorted, shoving his blow aside.

“You’d die to hide him?”

“He isn’t hiding, if I die he dies.”

“A pity for you.” The Cipher Pol agent brought his hand back around at blinding speed, grabbing his opponent’s side. In a single brutal swing, he threw the fusion over himself, slamming them into the ground and standing over them. “This has been interesting.” He aligned his fists and thrust both in Warp Steven’s direction. “ ** _Six Powers Secret Technique;_** ”

Realising what was coming, Warp Steven showed his first real sign of fear. He raised a dome of hexagons around him. “Oh, crackers.”

“ ** _Six King Gun!_** ”

As the dome instantaneously shattered, Steven found the view of his opponent was still tinted pink, even has he felt no pain. At first, the fusion attributed these phenomena to ocular bleeding and shock respectively. Suddenly he realised what it was. “My shield!” He beamed. There above him was the shield of Steven’s youth, belonging first to his mother, gone for so long, but now his once again. It resonated like a gong from the almighty shockwave it had absorbed but showed no wear.

Rob Lucci had never seen any material be entirely undamaged from that strike. It fazed him for an instant.

Warp Steven held up his forearm and the shield obediently gravitated onto it. “You wanted to know who I am?” Warp Steven slammed the assassin in the chest as he rose, unloading the shockwave onto its creator.

Lucci landed a few feet back, a line of blood drew itself down from his forehead.

“I’m Pilot and one of his best friends, working together to send you packing in these!” From his back pocket, Warp Steven drew an odd pair of handcuffs, made of a greyish stone, before pocketing them again. “You have a skull fracture already.” The fusion noticed suddenly. “I didn’t do that to you, did I?”

“No.” The assassin wasn’t going to raise his opponent’s apparently indestructible morale by lying.

“Might as well take advantage.” Warp Steven zipped forwards. His target blocked the obvious overhead shield bash but was thus pinned when the fusion looped his foot behind his ankles, kicking his legs from under him. As Rob Lucci fell, Warp Steven dismissed his shield and thrust his fists forward in a familiar pose. “I think what you were going for was, **_Six Powers Secret Technique;_** ”

“Only a master of the six powers can do that!” His enemy retorted. “You’re barely competent!”

“ ** _Six King Gun!_** ”

Beneath Warp Steven’s feet, a ten-foot-wide crater appeared. Hammered headfirst into this pit lay Rob Lucci’s limp body.

Warp Steven hopped out of the crater, walking up the hill with his hands behind his back. He glanced over his shoulder. “Correction Robby, only a master of the six powers can do that without breaking his arms.” The cracking noises of his horribly bent limbs being healed by Steven’s powers were audible from the hilltop.

“Then don’t do it!” Greg and Axia scolded him, outraged that their child would even consider hurting themselves so.

Instantly penitent, Warp Steven bowed his head. “Sorry! It was the fastest way to end this! They’re fine now!” He raised his arms. “See? It hardly hurt at all!”

A low growl rose from the crater.

“Don’t get up Lucci.” Warp Steven ordered in all seriousness. “It’s over, I’ve got the cuffs right here.” He Turned around, taking them out of his pocket. “Just lay there or you’ll hurt yourself more.”

From the pit leapt a bloodied leopard, its inhuman eyes filled with fire and vengeance.


	10. Battling the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You thought the fight was over? It's just getting started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: More blood, violence, and broken bones

The leopard in the assassin’s clothes pounced onto Warp Steven. Its claws dug into his back, ripping through his jacket to try and dig out his spine. Its fangs sunk into his shoulder; the fusion having had the sense to shove its maw from his throat. “Ahh!!” He screamed. “You little!” He grabbed the beast by the throat, kneed it in the chest and threw it off of him. Without taking his eyes off of it, he gave a thumbs up to his fathers, already halfway down the hill. “I’m fine!” He called more cheerily as evidence of his mauling vanished from his skin. “Hurt like a Marvin heckler but I’m fine! Standby!”

Mighty Spark nodded and walked up the hill, half dragging Greg with him. “He’s taking his opponent seriously now; we don’t have to worry.”

The leopard’s tumble became acrobatic flips as their hind legs aligned with their body while their forepaws grew into clawed hands. Its shoulders began to broaden. “ ** _Life Return; Paper Art Fighting Form._** ” The growth penned in suddenly so that the creature was slender as it stood upright, a perfect fusion of apex predator and remorseless killer Rob Lucci. He stared down the fusion, being at least half again his human form’s height. He exhaled through his wide feline nose as he licked some of Warp Steven’s blood off his lip. He let his opponent know an ambush waited for them, silently goading them to strike first.

Warp Steven was wise enough to not close the distance. “Here kitty kitty!” He rubbed his fingers together.

The assassin did not give the statement the dignity of a response.

“Oh well.” He shrugged, raising his foot to walk away. “If you won’t come to me and I won’t come to you, I guess the fight’s over. Let’s call it a- **_Tempest Kick!_** ” He swung his leg forward, sending a crescent of air at his opponent, the first in a hurricane of blades.

“ ** _Paper Art._** ” Lucci hadn’t predicted the deception with his haki, but he was ready for it. He swayed between the tempest kicks’ blades like a ribbon, closing the gap between him and his prey.

As Lucci got within striking range, Warp Steven stopped kicking. “Flashbangs!” He declared, throwing a handful into his foes face. He ducked as they blew up. “ ** _Pistol Fist; Jewel B-_** ”

Lucci punched the back of Warp Steven’s skull, sending him head over heels. “You’re going to die quickly if you keep relying on cheap sho-”

As Warp Steven’s legs swept up into the air, they clamped around Rob Lucci’s head, dragging it downwards. The fusion pressed off the floor with his hands, launching him and Lucci upwards. In the air they began to spin. The pair accelerated as they fell towards a distant hill, away from the Warp Steven’s three parents. “ ** _Twister Break!_** ”

“ ** _Life Return Release!_** ” Just before he hit the floor, Rob Lucci swelled. His chest and shoulders broadened as his height almost doubled. His limbs thickened, along with his neck, resisting the final twist of Warp Steven’s attack.

Realising his strike had failed, Warp Steven removed himself from Lucci’s head quickly. “ ** _Shave!_** ”

“You’re finally trying to kill me.” Rob Lucci noted as he stood up.

“I was only going to kink your spine up a few notches.” Warp Steven denied. “Nothing a few years of chiropractor appointments won’t mostly fix. Might encourage you to take up yoga.”

The mountain of spotted fur and muscle descended on the fusion, clawed fingers ready to tear him apart. Suddenly, his palms were met by Warp Steven’s locking their fingers together. They fighters pushed against one another. “Do you expect to overpower me like this?” the beastman asked, pushing his opponent back.

“No.” Warp Steven replied. “But it does hold you still.” A pink hexagon appeared between their faces and proceeded to repeatedly collide with Lucci.

Lucci didn’t even flinch under the slaps. “This is pathetic.”

“You think so?” The hexagon stopped for a moment as a flame like pattern of Pilot’s haki blackened its lower half. “How about now?”

The haki infused hex beat into Rob Lucci’s body from all angles. His face tightened into murderous rage as the beating let his opponent push him back. Suddenly, he caught the hexagon in his jaws. He bit down, shattering it to pieces. “I’m done here.” He lunged to bite the hex’s creator.

Warp Steven leapt out of the way just in time, realising his mistake too late as he let the assassin go. Lucci’s claws raked across his chest before they elbowed him hard. Lucci didn’t let up for a moment, pursuing and striking down, grabbing the shield and throwing it aside as the fusion summoned it. With one stomp, Warp Steven was on the ground. As he tried to get up, Lucci’s tail, as thick and flexible as an anaconda, coiled around Warp Steven’s neck.

“You could never have won.” Rob Lucci lifted his foe to face him. “It’s your smile. No matter how powerful you would have become, you would have always been a joke.” His body shook with rage, apart from his tail and his fists as they lined up with Warp Steven’s chest. “ ** _Ultimate Radius; Six King-_** ”

“ **SHUT UP!** ” The roar was accompanied by a shockwave that filled Lucci’s head with pain. “ **YOU SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!** ” Glowing pink with Pilot’s scar returning, Warp Steven wrenched himself out of his assailant’s tail, growing taller and slimmer as their feet hit the floor. “ **DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I’M SUCH A FUNNY MAN?** ” He asked, swatting Lucci’s punch aside. “ **IT’S SO NOBODY WORRIES ABOUT ME!** ” His long brown hair curled in on itself and lightened as the whiskers on his ears vanished. “ **BUT I’VE HAD A BETTER IDEA!** ” Their voice grew higher and resonant. “ **LET’S SHOW THEM THAT YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME!** ” There, in Warp Steven’s place, stood a perfect fusion of Roxillan and Pink Diamond, their beauty marred by their fuming rage and Pilot’s scar, which had extended over their entire body.

“ **KNEEL!** ” The fusion demanded, their voice a disorientating combination of their apparent components talking over each other.

With a single punch that caved in his gut, Lucci was forced to comply.

“ **DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?** ” The fusion screamed, punching him down. “ **I AM HALF KELMEP, A QUARTER DIAMOND, AND THE REST IS THE BEST HUMANITY HAS TO OFFER!** ” They beat on his chest, cracking his ribs like plywood. **“I COULD BE A GOD! AT MINIMUM THOUGH, I AM NOT LETTING PIECES OF CRAP LIKE YOU TALK LIKE THAT TO ME!** ” With a final punch, Lucci was sent into a far hillside. The fusion set murderous eyes in his direction.

“BOY!”

The shout stopped the fusion in their tracks.

Running across the hills, Mighty Spark had followed them, not far behind was Axia and Greg in his van. After his ear-splitting yell Pilot’s father returned to a calm speaking volume. “Who said all that?”

Though quiet and far, the words were audible to kelmepi ears. Warp Steven lost the pink light and scaring as he instantly returned to his normal form. “Not me.” He sighed. “Well this is one for Steven’s therapist.”

In the distance Rob Lucci stood. He saw his opponent and advanced.

Seeing him, Warp Steven called out. “Sorry about that! That was uncalled for! Trash talk is a part of fighting, I’m a hypocrite for acting otherwise! Do you want me to heal y-”

Lucci rushed forward, slamming his fist into Warp Steven’s shield, raised just in time.

“You sly cat, you got me monologuing.”

“If you can’t kill an enemy to save your life, you aren’t worthy of the six powers.” He tried to wrench the shield away like last time, but its edges suddenly became sharp, slicing his hand open.

Warp Steven lunged for him.

As the pair duelled in close quarters again, Lucci was infuriated to find himself unable to touch his foe, his strikes hitting a shield or empty air. More infuriating was the fact he was being hit, though he blocked many strikes, the tiny mistakes built up and blows landed, mostly in the face and on existing wounds, exacerbating them. Most infuriating of all was the smile, it was the smile of one too foolish to ever survive in battle, being worn by the man who was beating him.

With a kick, Warp Steven knocked his beastly opponent down the hill. “We’ve been at this for too long.” He proclaimed. He did a backflip. “ ** _Grey Ploughman;_** ” as his feet traced through the air, they traced two long arcs, “ ** _Tempest Kicks!_** ” The two elongated blades of air soared at Lucci, splitting the earth beneath them.

Rob Lucci raised his arms. “ ** _Iron Body!_** ” The blades collapsed against him with barely a mark to his fur. He looked up in some confusion only for haki enhanced hexagons to appear and slam into his back.

As his foe put one foot forwards, Warp Steven ground his heel into the earth a bit. “ ** _Grey Sower._** ”

The earth beneath Lucci gave way. It churned and actively pulled him under like living quicksand. It stopped at his shoulder. “What is this nonsense?” Earth tumbled as the beastman began to pull himself free.

Suddenly the earth stopped tumbling and the man found himself stuck. “My haki may not be as strong as yours yet Lucci,” Warp Steven admitted, “but it is stretchy.”

The soil around the assassin turned black and hardened. “Your haki can’t hold me!” He spat. The sound of cracking from beneath confirmed his words.

“I know.” The fusion held his fists out either side of him, reinforced with haki. Suddenly the fists glowed pink as their owner locked eyes with Lucci’s skull fracture. “ ** _Grey Harvestman;_** ” he charged his half-buried foe, dropping into a knee slide on approach, “ ** _Pink Pistol Fists!_** ”

Driving with her mother on the out of city roads, Connie felt something. “Mom, stop the car!”

In response to her daughter’s cry Priyanka slammed on the breaks. Right in front of them a giant humanoid with spotted yellow fur collided with the road, cracking the asphalt for tens of feet around him, followed by a deluge of soil chunks.

The figure did not rise, laying beaten, bloody, and out cold.

“What on Earth?” Priyanka’s hand hovered on the handle of her car door. If this creature was a person, it was her duty as a doctor to treat his grievous wounds, if it was an oversized leopard, she didn’t want to leave the safety of her vehicle. She glanced to her daughter.

Connie had let her paper ribbon fold itself into a gladius and she was reaching for her passenger side door. The girl didn’t take her eyes off the body, she somehow knew it was incredibly dangerous.

Both doors clunked as they opened. Almost as soon as the young woman and her mother both placed a foot on the demolished road there was a second impact as Warp Steven landed atop his foe, wearing a white top hat. As he landed, he lined up his fists with the beastman’s skull, only to relax as he realised that they were down for the count. “I would be sorry but well, you know.”

“Warp Steven?”

The fusion’s face lit up as he turned to the caller. “Connie!” He jumped down from Rob Lucci as he ran over to her. “Oh! I’d hug you if it wasn’t kinda weird for me!”

“What happened to you?” She asked him, stepping out of the car. She gestured to his clothes, though his wounds were gone, his shirt and jacket were shredded and bloodstained beyond recognition.

“Oh, uh, got into a fight.” He admitted.

“With that?” She nodded to the unconscious assassin.

“With that.” He confirmed.

“What is that?” Gasped Priyanka, taking a cautious step towards the injured monster of a man.

“Whoa there!” Warp Steven rushed past her, pulling out his handcuffs. “This is Rob Lucci, an assassin.”

The doctor looked from the cuffs to Lucci’s monstrous wrists. “I don’t think those are going to fit.”

“Don’t worry,” he assured her, “they’re seastone.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it.” The fusion touched the open cuffs to one of his opponent’s bare wrists. Immediately, Rob Lucci began to shrink, his bestial traits receding until he was his normal human self. Warp Steven clapped the shackles around him and prepared to lift him up.

“Wait!” Priyanka insisted. “He needs medical attention. Could you…” She made a gesture at her mouth.

Warp Steven shook his head regretfully. “I can’t risk him waking up from my healing spit.”

From the shake of the fusion’s head, the doctor had returned to her car and retrieved a first aid kit. “Can I bandage him at least? I’m a doctor, I took an oath to-”

“Sure.”

Priyanka knelt beside the assassin and leant in to check his breathing, satisfied he wasn’t about to asphyxiate, she took a knife and cut away his jacket and shirt. She gulped at his bare chest, pitted with clear fist shaped impressions and bruises that wept blood through the pores. “What did you do to this man?” She murmured, quite by accident.

The words set of a pang of guilt in the fusion, though it was mostly stifled as he recalled what atrocities the man he had injured so was guilty of.

Priyanka took the bandages from her first aid kit and started doing what she could. Not looking up, she addressed the fusion. “If you won’t use your powers to heal him, we have to take him to a hospital immediately.”

“There are doctors on his ship.” Warp Steven assured her. “They can look after him. He’ll live.”

As Priyanka focused on bandaging Lucci, Connie beckoned Warp Steven over. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah!” The fusion smiled. “Good thing I can heal right?” He began lifting portions of his ragged clothes to show the unbroken skin underneath. He showed her a bicep before pausing. “Maybe I shouldn’t be flexing for you.”

“I don’t mind.”

There was an awkward silence.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Connie apologised. “Also, I’m sorry I tried to kiss you.”

“It’s ok.” He smiled. “It’s not your fault my powers seduced you.”

“What?” She folded her arms.

“I mean, I’m half Steven, even without my powers he can-”

“He can what?” Priyanka demanded, having finished dressing Rob Lucci’s wounds.

“Eep!” With that utterance Warp Steven came apart. The first thing Pilot did was look over to his fusion partner with a hurt expression, for Rob Lucci’s hat had went with Steven.

Before Pilot could reach for the prize however, Priyanka grabbed him by the ear. “I think you’d best tell me what you and Steven have been up to all day, everything this time.”

As her mother grilled the kelmep, Connie beckoned Steven around the side of her mother’s car. “So Steven…” She gently slipped the top hat from her boyfriend’s head and placed it on her own. “Seduce me.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” Connie smiled. “According to Warp Steven, you can just…” She gave him an expectant look.

“Oh, um…” He thought for a moment before leaning on the car in what he hoped was a seductive pose. “Hey baby… what’s a girl like you, uh, doing in a place like… this?”

Her expression flattened. “That’s a long story. It ends with me looking for my dumbass runaway boyfriend.”

“Right, that was stupid.”

“You want to try again?”

“Uh, sure.” Steven gave it another think. “You look really… pretty? Beautiful? Sexy?”

Connie put a hand to her chest. “Oh Steven,” she exclaimed sarcastically, “my heart may stop! After all these years, my appearance is finally validated by a man! What more could I desire!?”

“Sorry.” He replied sheepishly.

Connie dropped her sarcasm and gave him a loving smile. “For?”

“For what I just said?”

“Warmer.”

He finally picked up on what she was suggesting. “I’m sorry for making you worry.”

She moved in closer to him, touching his arm. “And?”

“And for not trusting you to help, I thought you were under my power.”

“I wasn’t. I thought Warp Steven was all you, and I wanted to kiss you. You are my boyfriend after all.” She giggled a bit at the final statement.

“So you are.” He chuckled back.

“You know, Warp Steven is pretty cool, but…” She kissed him.

“I prefer us!” Stevonnie exclaimed, tipping the hat back slightly. They looked down themselves. “Aw nuts, I’m getting blood on Connie’s clothes, how do you even get blood out?”

“Seltzer water and lemon.” Axia answered as she swooped in. As she arrived, Greg’s van appeared, turning a corner and stopping before the damage in the road to avoid ruining its tires. Mighty Spark and Greg stepped ot to approach the others on foot.

“You finally made it Doctor!” Mighty Spark called.

“Yes, sorry.” Priyanka waved. “I’m not that familiar with these backroads.”

“I see. Well it looks like Warp Steven has taken a rest in favour of Stevonn-” He turned his head.

Pilot and Stevonnie, feeling it too, also turned. Soon they heard a sound like a sports car tearing across the hills. A ball of orange crested a nearby hill. Stevonnie raised their shield, everyone else prepared to get out of the way.

Jasper stopped just short of the group, glaring at Pilot. “Do you have Lucci?”

“Yes,” Pilot nodded to the unconscious body. “How do you-”

“We need to get to Beach City, now!”

On a distant hilltop, a person in a blue pinstripe suit watched. Suddenly, their ginger hair and pale skin darkened as they gained hight to fill out their clothes. ‘Vice Admiral’ Multiverse didn’t look back as they said. “What are you doing here love?”

Beside her stepped a woman, shorter than them but with similar colouration. Their brown hair, in buns, was very frizzy, held at tension enough that one may fear the bands that held it would explode at any moment. She wore tight jeans and a bomber jacket, unzipped to show a t-shirt for a band called Star Destroyers. “He wanted me to see how you were doing. He went through a lot of trouble to get that writ for you.”

The taller one sighed. “I think we’re even, considering how we got into this mess in the first place.” Still, they put an arm around the woman. They glanced at the woman’s back. “You really shouldn’t be wearing that here.”

The woman wrestled out of their arm and pointed at their back. “Gotta rep the team!” on the back of her jacket was the image of a white shooting star with a warp blue tail, underneath was an acronym;

S.P.A.R. **K**


End file.
